THE EFFECT OF ACTIVATION ON THE ADSORPTION CHARACTERISTICS (PARAMETER) OF LOCAL CLAY

Abstract The research work is on the effect of acid activation on the adsorption characteristics (parameters) of the local clay. The sample of the local clay which was obtained from Eha-Ndiagu clay deposit and was subjected to pre-treatment to obtain a pulverized clay of average particle size of 100 µm. The activation was carried out at different process conditions using activating agent of HCL. At these condition, there were variation of process conditions of temperature, contact time, dosage and mass percentage of acid from the result obtained, the sample coded S2 exhibited the highest degree of performance on the adsorption characteristic assessed. The result also showed that each of the parameter increased to a maximum and later decreased progressively with the process conditions. Similarly, the effect of adsorption on the refining of palm oil displayed spectacular performance. A high degree of bleaching efficiencies ranging from 85 to 90% were recorded at the different controlling factor or adsorption. From all this results, it shows that local clay of Eha-Ndiagu can be classified as a high rank adsorbent if it is properly activated.