Physico-Chemical Characterization of Akoko Mined Kaolin Clay

Abimbola George Olaremu

Department of Chemical Sciences, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko, Nigeria.

DOI: 10.4236/jmmce.2015.35038                

Abstract

Over the past several decades, kaolin has been intensively used in ceramics formulation by the indigene of Erusu Akoko, in south western Nigeria. Kaolin is a clay mineral with wide technological applications in the industry. It finds applications in fiberglass, paper, rubber, tires, ceramics, cements, latex, paint, printing inks, catalysts for petroleum refining, medicines, water treatment, cosmetics and others. In the present work, we studied the mineralogy of Erusu clay that had been in use for several generations without understanding the physico-chemical properties. Samples of the material were pre-treated and subjected to analysis. From our results, Akoko clay exhibited decompositional water loss of 13.23% and 13.14% in air and argon respectively at 1000°C. The Brunanuer-Emmett-Teller (BET) analysis showed that the kaolin clay was majorly a mesoporous material and the isotherm was of the type iv. The micropore surface area obtained from t-plot is 9.06 m2/g indicating that the materials also contain micropore with size and volume of 15.611 ? and 0.265 cc/g respectively. The XRD, IR and TEM analysis confirmed the presence of Kaolin and Quarts as the major constituents of Akoko clay.

Keywords

Clay Mineral, Kaolin, Akoko, Beneficiation, Analytical Methods

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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