Patent ID: 8871666

Claim:
A method for preparing a rheological product of sepiolite in which sepiolite mineral is wet ground, wherein the procedure comprises a first stage consisting of grinding sepiolite mineral, with a sepiolite content of at least 50%, and with a moisture content of less than 40% to a particle size of less than 1 mm, in order to obtain ground sepiolite mineral; a second stage consisting of mixing the ground sepiolite mineral with an aqueous solution of a dispersing component consisting of a dispersing agent corresponding to a base selected from the group consisting of sodium hydroxide, ammonium hydroxide and potassium hydroxide capable of increasing the pH of the mixture to above pH 9, in such a way that the final water content is between 35% and 65% and the content of dispersing component is between 0.1% and 7% of the weight of the sepiolite mineral, in order to obtain a first mixture consisting of sepiolite mineral, dispersant component and water; a third stage consisting of mixing the first mixture obtained in the second stage as far as deagglomerating the microfibre bundles of the sepiolite using an intensive mixer or a turbomixer, in order to obtain the rheological product in the form of a paste in a dispersion homogeneously mixed with the dispersant and the water, and which comprises 0.1-7% by weight referring to the sepilolite mineral, of the dispersing component; 35-65% by weight referring to the total weight, of rheological product and water, in the absence of a flocculant; and a fourth stage which consists of drying the paste obtained in the third stage in order to obtain a dry material with a moisture content of less than 20%, grinding the dry material and sorting the ground dry material.