Kinetic study of the intercalation process of dimethylsulfoxide in kaolinite

•A kinetic study of the intercalation process of DMSO between the layers of kaolinite was done.•The process was followed by X-ray diffraction to detect changes in basal spacing of the kaolinite.•Four temperatures were selected for this work: 40, 45, 50 and 60 °C.•After kinetic analysis, a two-step mechanism reaction was proposed.•An activation energy of 84 ± 20 kJ/mol was calculated for the entrance of DMSO molecule in kaolinite layers.

A kinetic study of the intercalation reaction of dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) into the layers of kaolinite was carried out. Several kaolinite–DMSO mixtures were analyzed at four temperatures (60, 50, 45 and 40 °C). Structural characterization was done by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The intercalation reaction was followed by XRD of the kaolinite–DMSO intercalates at different reaction times and temperatures. A kinetic analysis of the process was performed considering a two-step simple mechanism for consecutive reactions: ingress of DMSO molecules into the kaolinite galleries and subsequent rotation of DMSO molecules. Finally, the activation energies of the two steps proposed for the global intercalation process were estimated.

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