How to choose bentonite for cat litter production
· 5 min read
Contents
A litter plant and a pet wholesaler do not buy bentonite the way a cat owner does. You need a repeatable granule, predictable wetting, dust the line can live with, and a pack that fits a private label. GEOBENT Sp. z o.o. in Rzeszów supplies GB-Litter for that: activated bentonite for hygienic pet litter. Settle the points below before you ask for a sample.
The product page is cat litter bentonite. Order questions sit in the FAQ. Samples and orders go through contact.
What to fix in the specification
Four things show up on a production line: whether the granule clumps, how much liquid it holds, the particle size, and how much dust leaves the hopper. Colour, scent and the bag print are brand decisions. They are not a property of the deposit.
The GB-Litter page describes activated bentonite with high absorbency that takes up moisture and neutralises odour. Fraction can be set to the customer’s requirement. Supply is in big-bags or individual packs, including private label with colour, granule size and flavour. That is a raw material for a litter maker, not a finished tray sold to a household.
Write the spec before you compare offers: target fraction, clumping or not, the dust your line will accept, bag weight, and whether you want raw material or a printed bag. Ask for a sample of that same fraction. A show bag of a different cut does not describe your line.
Clumping and absorption
In typical industry practice, bentonite litter clumps when it meets moisture and absorbs liquid, so a used clump can be lifted out. That is not a GEOBENT guarantee for every recipe. Clumping depends on the bentonite, the moisture of the granule, the volume of liquid and how deep the user fills the tray. A common household recommendation is a layer 5–8 cm deep. With one cat, the whole tray is often replaced every 2–4 weeks, sooner with more cats. Used bentonite litter is not flushed; it goes out with waste under local rules. Those are market habits, not a GEOBENT dose.
The figures that belong to the raw material are on the GB-Litter table:
| Parameter | Unit | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Montmorillonite | % | 65–85 |
| Moisture | % | 10–14 |
| Fraction | mm | 0.1–5.0 |
| Free swelling index, min. | mm/2 g | 25 |
| Filtrate volume, max | ml | 18 |
| pH | — | 10 |
| Methylene blue adsorption, min. | mg/g | 400 |
| Water absorption, min. | % | 600 |
Montmorillonite is the mineral that swells. Minimum water absorption of 600% and a free swelling index of at least 25 mm/2 g are the published capacity figures. Maximum filtrate of 18 ml and methylene blue adsorption of at least 400 mg/g are on the same card. pH 10 is the alkaline value in the table. Moisture of 10–14% is the moisture of the delivered product, not the litter after a week in a tray.
The table lists fraction 0.1–5.0 mm, while the page also says the product is available in any fraction to the customer’s requirement. Read that as: the catalogue shows the published range, and the actual cut is agreed with sales and checked on a sample. Do not assume every big-bag matches a sieve you never ordered.
Granulation, dust, sodium and calcium
Finer granules usually wet faster and dust more. Coarser granules dust less and can feel harsher under a paw. That is typical industry behaviour. GEOBENT does not publish one dust level for GB-Litter. Dust depends on fraction and how the material is made, and the fraction is set to the customer’s specification. If your line is open or already has dust collection, say so when you request the sample. Two samples of the same declared cut, poured the same way, tell you more than the word “low-dust”.
Buyers also ask for sodium versus calcium bentonite. In typical industry practice, sodium bentonite swells more and is the usual choice for clumping litter. Calcium bentonite swells less and is more often used where clumping is not the goal, or in blends. Sodium activation of calcium bentonite is a common industry route to higher swell. The GB-Litter card calls the product activated bentonite and lists montmorillonite, moisture, fraction, swell, filtrate, pH, methylene blue and water absorption. It does not publish a separate sodium or calcium percentage. If your recipe needs a stated cation, ask at the sample stage and test it with a measured dose of water. Do not copy the GB-Form sheet onto litter: foundry bentonite is a different product, described as enriched with sodium cation for moulding sands.
Private-label packs on the GB-Litter page are 5, 10 and 25 kg bags, plus 1 t big-bags. GEOBENT also ships bentonite in bulk. Delivery covers Europe and export. The minimum order is one full truck. Lead time starts from 2 weeks after the order is received. Samples are always free: info@geobent.pl, +48 573 588 382. In the email, state fraction, pack size, whether you need print, rough tonnage and the sample address.
The material is own production in Rzeszów. The quarry is 2 km from the plant, with 3 bentonite layers and 1 palygorskite layer, and processing is up to 100,000 tonnes a year. That story is in the quarry article. Waterproofing granules are a different product: GB-Granules and the granules article. Drilling fluids are GB-Drill, soil and feed are under agriculture, and wine, beer, water, juice and oil filtration is GB-Sorb. Order litter against the litter card.
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