Analysis and Characterization of Selected Clay from South-West Nigeria for Ceramic Filters Application

Abstract

This present study is designed to investigate the suitability of selected Nigeria clay deposit for Clay based ceramic water filters (CWFs). Clay from eight (8) randomly selected locations within south-west Nigeria have been investigated with a view to determine their suitability for Clay based ceramic water filters (CWFs). The samples were collected from the following locations; Ijero (IJ) in Ekiti state, Ijapo (IJ), Barrack (BR), and Ondo (ON) in Ondo state, Ibafo (IB) in Lagos state, Ilesha(IL) and Idoka (ID) in Osun state and Ajebo (AJ) in Ogun state. Experimental analysis for Liner shrinkage, water absorption, bulk density, compressive strength X-raw diffraction (XRD) and Energy Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence (EDXRF) were carried out on each of the eight (8) samples. Test results reveals that all the clays contain high contents of alumina (Al2O3) and silica (SiO2) with minor contents of P2O5, Fe2O3, MgO, K2O, MnO and TiO2. The average crystal sizes of the clay were between 8.961nm and 26.875nm, lattice structure indicates that the sample were Monoclinic, Anorthic and orthorhombic. Compressive strength varies from 7.11664 Mpa to 19.6583 Mpa, moisture content varies from 0.66% to 2.59% and linear shrinkage varies from 6.9% to 13.70% while water absorption varies from 15.55% to 35.23%. The research indicated that Idoka, Ijapo and Ilesha Clay with specification of some industrial clays shows that the samples can be recommended for use in Clay based ceramic water filters production.