Author(s)

Etienne Sagbo^1*, Marielle Agbahoungbata¹, Wilfried Kangbode¹, Arthur Cakpo¹, Jacques Kinlehoume¹, Jean-Baptise Mensah², Yves Noack³

¹Laboratoire de ChimieInorganiqueet de l’Environnement (LaCIE), Faculté des Sciences et Techniques (FAST), Universitéd’ Abomey-Calavi, Cotonou, Bénin.
²Laboratoire de Chimie Théoriqueet de Spectroscopie Moléculaire (LACTHESMO), Faculté des Sciences et Techniques (FAST), Universitéd’ Abomey-Calavi, Cotonou, Bénin.
³Centre Européen de Rechercheetd’ Enseignementen Géosciences de L’Environnement (CEREGE), Universitéd’Aix Marseille, AIX en Provence, France.

In this work, by the use of several physico-chemical complementary methods for the characterization of soil (diffraction of x-rays, chemical analysis, density, cationic exchange capacity, specific sur faces, m?ssbauer, granulometry, etc.), the smectite of the three clayey localities of Benin (Gbédji-Kotovi, Massi-Sèhouè and Zogbodomey) was notably studied. Thus, these three sites principally contain principally smectite, kaolinite and quartz in variable proportion. This smectite is a beidellite. Its chemical formula is proposed. The specific surfaces and the cationic exchange capacity of the samples are determined. For these samples, the fraction lower than 2 μm is practically beidellitic for Gbédji-Kotovi and Massi-Sèhouè (more than 82% of beidellite) and practically kaolinitic (70% of kaolinite) for Zogbodomey. So, used as additive food to ruminant, the clay of Gbédji-Kotovi and Massi-Sèhouè will induce an enteric reduction of methane more than clay of Zogbodomey.

Clay, Characterization, Beidellite, Formula, Bénin

Sagbo, E. , Agbahoungbata, M. , Kangbode, W. , Cakpo, A. , Kinlehoume, J. , Mensah, J. and Noack, Y. (2015) Characterization of Clay of the Benin Used in Ruminale Feeding. Complete Determination of the Smectites Contained in These Clays. Journal of Environmental Protection, 6, 1322-1336. doi: 10.4236/jep.2015.611115.