Method for activating clay with high residual humidity

The invention relates to a method for activating clay having a high residual humidity, comprising the following steps: feeding wet clay into a device (70) for drying, comminuting the previously dried clay in a device (130) for comminuting, thermally activating the comminuted clay in a gas-flow reactor (160) or a fluidized bed reactor, and drying the activated clay in the device (70) for comminuting. The crushed clay is suspended in a hot gas in the gas flow reactor or fluidized bed reactor, the gas from the gas flow reactor (160) or fluidized bed reactor is separated in a device (170) for separation, and the thermally activated clay is cooled by means of a cooling gas in a device (175) for cooling, the invention also relates to a corresponding device. According to the present invention, a cooling gas, which has been heated after cooling the thermally activated clay, is integrated with a gas from the gas flow reactor (160) or the fluidized bed reactor, the integrated gas is introduced into a device (70) for dr