Abstract: The two kinds of calcium bentonite of A and B produced from a certain company in Guangxi Province were used as raw materials，and the dry sodium modification process was adopted to ex⁃ plore the influence of the ratio of two bentonite，the type and dosage of sodium agent，the high speed mix⁃ ing time，and the aging time on the sodium modification effects. Then，the sodium bentonite with excellent physicochemical properties was prepared. The results showed that in the condition of the sodium agent sodi⁃ um carbonate dosage of 3%，the mass ratio of A and B bentonite of 2∶1，the high speed mixing time of 30 s，and the aging time at room temperature of 15 h，the blue absorption of 100 g modified bentonite in⁃ creased from 26.8 g to 32.1 g. The water absorption increased from 190% to 580%，and the expansion vol⁃ ume increased from 5.0 mL/g to 36.0 mL/g，which meet the quality requirements of bentonite for metallurgi⁃ cal pellets( Bentonite (GB/T 20973—2020)) and can be used as a binder for metallurgical pellets. The dry sodium modification process has the characteristics of simple operation，low energy consumption，economi⁃ cal and practical，and short production cycle.

Key words: calcium bentonite, sodium modification, dry method, metallurgical pellets