Refractories are critical to many manufacturing operations. Apart from being key ingredients in many construction products, they serve crucial protective functions in high-heat industrial equipment.

Given these roles, ensuring refractories remain cost-effective and long-lasting is essential, and a material called attapulgite may be an ideal solution.

What Is Attapulgite?

Attapulgite, also known as palygorskite, is a naturally occurring clay made of magnesium, aluminum and silicon. The material is relatively common, especially in the southeastern U.S., and resides in soil, making it relatively easy to extract. As a result, attapulgite is a low-cost alternative to many conventional additives, but its potential goes further.

The pharmaceutical industry has used attapulgite for years, often in diarrheal medications or as a poison treatment. It has steadily grown in construction circles, too, as demand has risen and firms have had to find available, low-cost materials to sustain it.

Both these markets can be profitable pursuits for manufacturers, but attapulgite’s utility can go beyond such use cases. As cost efficiency and reliability become bigger concerns in production materials, more organizations should turn their eyes to this resource.

Key Properties of Attapulgite

Palygorskite has several characteristics worth noting for manufacturing applications. Here are some of its most significant and unique properties.

1. Reversible Bonding

The most impressive trait of attapulgite is its reversible bonding properties. Like many clays, it exhibits plasticity and adhesion when wet, making it a useful additive in adhesive materials. Unlike many alternatives, though, its molecular bonds can disrupt and reform.

This reversible bonding means attapulgite mixtures can self-heal, as the material’s lattice structure repairs itself after disruption. Asphalt using attapulgite capsules remains intact after years of repeated service without any compromise in performance because of this ability. Mixing the material with other refractories can produce compounds potentially lasting decades.

Palygorskite’s self-healing does not match that of some novel nanomaterials, but it is impressive nonetheless. It also imbues these properties at a far lower cost and complexity, thanks to the raw material’s abundance in nature.

2. Resilience Against External Stressors

Attapulgite also showcases remarkable resistance to many conditions and stressors that might compromise other materials. This is particularly notable compared to other clays that may be similarly abundant.

Colloidal attapulgite remains stable in the presence of acid, bases, microorganisms and extreme temperatures. Much of this resistance stems from its self-healing nature, but its uniform crystalline structure and interactions with other molecules help, too. Regardless of the reason, the clay can withstand considerable stress without losing strength or bonding integrity.

These characteristics are particularly beneficial when adding attapulgite to refractory mixtures. Resistance to such a wide range of stressors makes for an ideal protective layer in heavy industrial applications or construction materials.

3. High Adsorption

Palygorskite is highly adsorbent and absorbent, too. These qualities have led to its popularity in the medical field, but they can also be useful in manufacturing circles.

Like other silica clays, attapulgite’s molecular structure naturally bonds to other molecules, making it a practical absorbent material. Studies have found that it can remove E. coli with 98.2% efficiency and reduce diarrhea in animals by up to 58.7% through this property. Those same characteristics can lead to highly efficient purification of liquids used in manufacturing.

Attapulgite can remove harmful contaminants from soil, water and other solutions, leaving manufacturers with cleaner materials to use in their products. Alternatively, companies can take advantage of this trait to mitigate their supply chains’ environmental impact.

Attapulgite Use Cases in Manufacturing

Molecular properties mean little if organizations do not know how to capitalize on them. Thankfully, optimal use cases for attapulgite in manufacturing have already emerged. Here are four of the most impactful.

1. Spray Coating

Attapulgite has gained popularity in construction materials, particularly as an ingredient in spray coatings. Its reversible bonding and noteworthy resistance to extreme temperatures make it a promising insulator.

Longer-lasting, more resilient spray insulation can prevent the thousands of dollars in damage burst pipes can cause by mitigating freezing risks. Attapulgite is a perfect candidate for such uses. Alternatively, it can act as a low-cost and reliable binder in sprayed concrete to reduce construction costs.

Manufacturers can act on this potential in a few ways. The most direct is to use attapulgite as a key ingredient when producing construction materials to sell to commercial end users. Another is to use it in their own construction when building or expanding facilities to keep costs low while ensuring structural longevity.

2. Adhesives

Palygorskite is also a useful ingredient in adhesive products.  Cement aside, it can play a role in putties, glues and paints to improve the bonding strength and long-term performance of these materials.

Many conventional adhesives degrade over time, especially in the presence of fluctuating temperatures or alkalines and acids. However, attapulgite is naturally resistant to these external stressors. This resistance, alongside its self-healing properties, can extend adhesives’ useful service lives without a significant cost increase.

Manufacturers serving construction or home improvement markets should take note of this use case. Cost concerns in both B2B and B2C markets may make longer-lasting products increasingly valuable, making attapulgite a more profitable ingredient in adhesives.

3. Sealants

Similarly, attapulgite is a valuable ingredient in industrial-grade sealants. Studies have found that attapulgite-based mixtures can prevent metal corrosion and biofouling, and palygorskite’s high temperature resistance can stave off cracking. This is particularly useful when sealing furnaces or other industrial equipment.

Factory rooms with high heat or moisture require reliable sealants to keep these conditions from spreading and affecting other equipment. Consequently, manufacturers cannot overlook the potential of attapulgite as a barrier against such stressors.

These characteristics have made attapulgite a popular additive to refractories in furnaces and other processing equipment. Manufacturers can also view them as a product opportunity by making and selling similar sealants to other industrial organizations or high-intensity consumer applications.

4. Water Treatment

While attapulgite’s adsorbent qualities may be most noteworthy in medical fields, it can also benefit manufacturers. Many products contain water, which must be pure for the item to meet regulatory standards. Palygorskite can act as a natural filter to remove microbial impurities or heavy metals as part of this process.

Attapulgite does not remove impurities in as much volume as some other solutions. However, it is readily available and affordable, so manufacturers can use more of it to counteract any performance gaps. It can also be a cost-effective part of a larger system when purifying water for use in other products.

Alternatively, manufacturers can use attapulgite to clean wastewater streams in the supply chain. Raw material extraction becomes less environmentally damaging when using the material to reduce the amount of contaminants released into the ecosystem. Mining operations, in particular, stand to gain much from this use case.

Manufacturers Must Recognize the Potential of Attapulgite

No material is perfect, but attapulgite has many useful properties that manufacturers may not be aware of. Companies should pay greater attention to these benefits if they hope to optimize their workflows, product lineups and facilities.

Palygorskite may not be a novel discovery, but its potential remains largely untapped. Experimenting with these use cases today could lead to valuable innovations tomorrow.