Hydrometallurgical Purification of Some Clay Deposits for High Temperature Applications
- 1 Africa Materials Science And Engineering Networks: A Carnegie-IAS (RISE) Networks
- 2 Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria
- 3 Department of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering, Tshwane University of Technology,Pretoria West, Pretoria, South Africa.
- 4 Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria
Abstract
The characterization of five different Nigerian clay deposits has been carried out by employing three different characterization techniques (X-ray Diffraction, X-ray Fluorescence and Scanning Electron Microscopy/EDX). The clays obtained from the various deposits were carefully prepared for the analyses and the results obtained were compared to confirm the consistency and reliability of the different methods employed. The results revealed the various desirable (SiO 2 and Al 2 O 3 ) and deleterious (Fe 3 O 4 , K 2 O, MgO, MnO and Na 2 O) elements and compounds contained in the clay samples in the various proportions and the appropriate purification technique required for preparing the clays for high temperature applications. Consequent upon the identification of the deleterious impurities, oxalic acid at different concentrations was used to leach the impurities out of the various clays. However, three out of the five deposits were chosen for purification because they possess the least quantities of the most deleterious (Fe 2 O 3 ) of the impurities.
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