112 W.G. Fahrenholtz
based on the utilization of silicate or aluminosilicate minerals [7]. As clay-based tradi-
tional ceramics became commodity items in the middle and latter portions of the twentieth
century, the focus of educational programs and industrial development shifted away
from mineral utilization and toward advanced ceramics, which include phase-pure
oxides, electronic materials, and non-oxide ceramics. The raw materials for these prod-
ucts are classified as industrial inorganic chemicals because they have been chemically
processed to improve purity compared with the crude or refined minerals used to
produce traditional ceramics [1]. Despite the shift in focus away from traditional ceramics,
the production of clays has not fallen significantly over the past 30 years (Fig. 1). At a
current average cost of more than $30 per ton (Fig. 2), clay production was a $1.3 billion
Fig. 1 Clay production from 1900 to 2002 [8]
Fig. 2 Cost of clay per ton from 1900 to 2002 [8]