Self-diffusion of water and its dependence on temperature and ionic strength in highly compacted montmorillonite, illite and kaolinite

The effect of temperature and ionic strength on the diffusion of HTO parallel to the direction of compaction through 5 highly compacted clay minerals (bulk dry density, ρb,d = 1.90 ± 0.05 Mg/m3), namely montmorillonite (Na- and Ca-form), illite (Na- and Ca-form), and kaolinite, was studied. The diffusion experiments were carried out at temperatures between 0 °C and 60 °C and at ionic strengths of 0.01 M and 1 M NaCl for the Na-form clays and kaolinite, and of 0.005 M and 0.5 M CaCl2 for the Ca-form. The ionic strength had an insignificant influence on the values of the effective diffusion coefficient (variation by less than 10%) for the clays under study at this degree of compaction. The effective diffusion coefficients followed the order Na-montmorillonite < Ca-montmorillonite < Ca-illite < Na-illite ⩽ kaolinite. It is thought that the differences between Na- and Ca-montmorillonite originate from the larger size particles, and thus the lower tortuosity of the latter; whereas the differences between Na- and Ca-illite are related to the different degree of solvation of the Na and Ca cations. The activation energies were successfully calculated using the Arrhenius law. Swelling clays (Na- and Ca-montmorillonite) had slightly larger activation energy values (20 kJ/mol) compared to bulk water (17 kJ/mol); Ca-illite (16 kJ/mol), Na-illite (13 kJ/mol) and kaolinite (14.4 kJ/mol) lower values than that of bulk water. The low activation energies of the last three clays may be related to weaker H-bonds between water and the clay surfaces compared to those in bulk water.