Investigating the Industrial Potentials of Some Selected Nigerian Clay Deposits

Abstract

One of the most important useful and widely abundant industrial minerals in the world is the clay minerals. Their applications in various industries are dependent on their properties. In this study, the mineralogical and physico-chemical properties of RahinSho (RC), Major Porter (MP), Wereng camp (WC), Kwi (KC) and Naraguta (NC) clay deposits in Plateau State, Nigeria were investigated to evaluate their potentials for some industrial uses. The x-ray diffraction studies revealed the kaolins as the dominant clay minerals in all the samples. The non-clay minerals found were quartz and muscovite. The chemical analyses by x-ray fluorescence also indicated that the silica (SiO2) values of the samples ranged from (41.20 - 62.26)% while the alumina (Al2O3) range was (17.25 - 37.15)%. Some considerable amounts of impurities found were Fe2O3 (0.43 - 27.52)%, TiO2 (0.05 - 3.28)%, K2O (0.13 - 3.01)%. The oxides of Na, Ca and Mg were within acceptable limits in the clays for most purposes. The loss on ignition ranged from 4.30% - 12.43%. The physical properties investigated were particle size distribution that contained heavy clay-size materials ranging from 67.88% - 91.88%, plasticity index had range of values from 15.90% - 33.68%, and drying and firing shrinkages were 1.10% - 2.22% and 1.65% - 4.49% respectively. All the samples attained a temperature of 1500˚C without fusion except Naraguta clay that fused at 1300˚C. At the temperature of 1200˚C, RC, MP and WC clays retained their natural colours of white and near-white respectively, while KC and NC clays changed colours from orange pink and light brown to moderate pink and moderate reddish brown respectively. These results compare very well with several clays elsewhere. Based on these characteristics, the clays were observed to be potentially suitable for the production of paints, tiles, ceramics, refractories, sanitary wares and clay bricks. Minimal processing will increase the potential of RC and MP to meet up with specification for paper, fertilizer and/or pharmaceutical uses.