Potentials of Alkaleri and Kankarakaoliniteclay for the Production of Aluminum Sulphate
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S. Abdulsalam, I. M. Misau, A. Abdulkarim / International Journal of Engineering Research and Applications (IJERA) ISSN: 2248-9622 www.ijera.com Vol. 2, Issue4, July-August 2012, pp.2008-2013 Potentials of Alkaleri and KankaraKaoliniteclay for The Production of Aluminum Sulphate S.Abdulsalam*, I. M. Misau*, A. Abdulkarim* *AbubakarTafawaBalewa University, Bauchi, Department Of Chemical Engineering, Bauchi-Nigeria ABSTRACT An investigation was carried out on the Most of the alum produced today is used in the pulp potentials of Alkaleri and Kankara kaolin for the and paper industry as well as water and waste water production of aluminum sulphate using sulphuric acid treatment. In Nigeria, it is mainly use as a flocculating (H2SO4) solutions. The kaolin samples were agent in purification of drinking water and waste water beneficiated and calcined at 700oC for 7 h to obtain treatment.In water purification, it causes impurities to meta-kaolin. The aluminum contents in meta-kaolin coagulate which are removed as the particulates settles were extracted using varied concentration of H2SO4 to the bottom of the container or more easily filtered. ranging from 30-50% in the increment of 5%. Results This process is called coagulation or flocculation[3]. obtained revealed that the produced aluminum sulphate were effective in treating Gubi-Dam raw water. There has been steady and growing demand Performance evaluations of various parameter tests for Aluminiumsulphate (alum) for various indicate the superiority of the produced products over technological development and water treatment the commercial aluminum sulphate and these processes due to increase in portable water demand for parameters fell below the World Health Organization domestic and industrial purposes as a result of the Standard. Aluminum sulphate samples produced using increasing global population. Unfortunately, this 40% and 35% H2SO4 gave the best performances for important chemical is always imported into the country Alkaleri and Kankara clays respectively. Therefore, with hard earned foreign exchange. This undoubtedly Alkaleri and Kankara clays can be used to produce contributes heavy drain on the national wealth and aluminum sulphate within the experimental limits used overdependence on foreign materials. With the growing in this study. need for sustainable society and self-sufficiency, it is important to exploit the use of our naturally endowed Keywords:Beneficiated;Calcined;Kaolin;Sulphuric resources for the betterment of our society. acid; Coagulant aid. From time immemorial, aluminum sulphate is 1. Introduction produced form raw material called bauxite [4, 5]. The growing need and importance for portable Unfortunately, bauxite is often completely absent in water for domestic and industrial uses cannot be over known commercial quantity in most developing emphasized. Treatment of raw water to remove countries such as Nigeria [6]. Apart from bauxite, the unwanted materials is long in practice and the chemical use of kaolin for the production of aluminum sulphate commonly used to achieve this purpose is the aluminum has received great attention in resent time [6, 7, 8]. It has been reported that Nigeria has an estimated reserve sulphate or otherwise called alum.Alum, Al2(SO4)3.14- of about two (2) billion metric tons of kaolin deposit 27H2O or its equivalent double salts of either sodium or potassium is known to be the most common coagulant scattered in different parts of the country [9]. This used in water treatment due to its effectiveness in reserve needs to be properly harness for economic and treating a wide range of water types [1]. Its relatively technological development of the country. low cost is the principal factor for its choice as a coagulant despite its shortcomings compared with the From the aforementioned, an investigation was more recent coagulants such as polyaluminum chloride carried out on the production of aluminum (PACl) and polyaluminumsulphate (PAS) [1, 2]. sulphatefrom kaolin locally sourced for Alkaleri Local Government Area in Bauchi State and Kankara clay In addition, aluminiumsulphate is a widely obtained from Kaduna State.The objectives of this used and versatile industrial chemical, playing an study were; (i) to determine the chemical composition important role in the production of many essentials seen of Alkaleri and Kankara clays, (ii) to determine the and used every day in the home and industry. chemical composition of meta-kaolin produced from Alkaleri and Kankara clays, (iii) to produce aluminum 2008 | P a g e S. Abdulsalam, I. M. Misau, A. Abdulkarim / International Journal of Engineering Research and Applications (IJERA) ISSN: 2248-9622 www.ijera.com Vol. 2, Issue4, July-August 2012, pp.2008-2013 sulphate from both types of clay using sulphuric acid, 2.3. Methods (vi) to determine the optimum percentage composition 2.3.1. Production of aluminum sulphate of each type of claywith sulphuric acid and (v) to Raw kaolin sample obtainedfrom compare the performance of aluminum sulphate Alkaleri(Sample A) was crushed, groundand washed produced to that of commercial one. with distilled water to remove soluble impurities. The washed clay sample was subsequently suspended in If the desired result is achieved, the following water to get rid of intermediate to coarse associated benefits would be derived; (i) use of the untapped mineral particles. The fine kaolin suspension was available raw materials (Kaolin) for creation of wealth, allowed to stand for three days to allow proper (ii) serves as an import substituting industry, (iii) create separation of the solid and liquid into two layers under job for the teeming unemployed youth, (iv) leads to the action of gravity. The upper layer (i.e. the development of industry and (v) save foreign exchange suspended water) was decanted and the solid layer was through self-sustainability. further dewatered to a thick mass in a clay bed under the action of pressure. The thick mass of clay resulted 2. Experimental procedure was dried for 3 days and then crushed and ball milled 2.1. Materials into fine powder after which it was classified using Alkaleri and Kankara kaolin samples were 600μm sieves. The sieved particles were calcined to obtained from Alkaleri Local Government Area of meta-kaolin at a temperature of 700oC for 7hours to Bauchi State (Nigeria) and Kankara Local Government activate the kaolin. The activated kaolin known as Area of Katsina State(Nigeria) respectively.The meta-kaolin was then cooled and the chemical commercial aluminum sulphate used as control and the compositionsfor both the raw and meta-kaolin were sulphuric acid used in this study are of analytical grades obtained using the x-ray fluorescence (XRF). and were bought from a Chemical Supplier in Bauchi State (Nigeria). Previous investigation carried out on Solutions of 30, 35, 40, 45 and 50% the mineralogical characteristics of both Alkaleri and concentrations of sulphuric acid were preparedand used Kankara kaolin revealed that both clay types are of to extract aluminum from the prepared meta-kaolin. kaolinite family[10, 11]. Fifty gramseach of meta-kaolin wasmixed with 50cm3each of the various concentration of sulphuric 2.2. Experimental design acid solution prepared.Each sample was stirred, allowed The experimental design used in this study is presented to settle and decanted; the product obtained after in Table 1: decanting was then washed with distilled water to wash off excess acid and the final product was dried. The samples obtained were used for coagulation experiment on Gubi Dam raw water. The above procedure was repeated for sample B. 2.3.2. Testing of the produced aluminum sulphate samples Jar tests were carried out to test the coagulation tendencies of the produced aluminum sulphate samples. Details of analyses of the produced samples were presented as follow; Jar test An amount of 1g of commercial alum was dissolved in 100ml of distilled water,and then 400ml of 1% solution prepared was poured into a beaker containing 500ml of Gubi dam raw water.This beaker was placed under the jar test flocculator and then the flocculator lowered into the beaker. The jar test flocculator was then switched on and allowed for 3 min.The solution was allowed to settle and the settling time recorded.The solution was then filtered, and the weights of the flocculants recorded. The above procedure was repeated for all the aluminum samples 2009 | P a g e S. Abdulsalam, I. M. Misau, A. Abdulkarim / International Journal of Engineering Research and Applications (IJERA) ISSN: 2248-9622 www.ijera.com Vol. 2, Issue4, July-August 2012, pp.2008-2013 produced and results obtained were presented in Tables carried out using standard methods well detailed in 3 and 4. Abdulsalamet al. [12]. 3. Results and Discussion 2.3.3. Quality parameter tests on coagulated water 3.1. Analysis of raw and meta-kaolin The following parameters were tested; The XRF analysis for both raw and meta-kaolin for the turbidity, hardness, pH, conductivity, color, Alkaleri and Kankara clays werepresented in Table2. conductivity, total dissolved solids, total suspended solids, settling time and floc weight. All the tests were Table 2: Elemental Analyses for Raw and Meta-Kaolin for Alkaleri and Kankara Kaolin _____________________________________________________________________________________ Composition of Samples Element _______________________________________________________________________ A A1 B B1 _____________________________________________________________________________________