EFFECT OF TEMPERATURE ON ACID ACTIVATED CLAY FROM GEGU-EGBACLAY REGION IN KOGI STATE

ABSTRACT

Clay as a solid with high surface area when pulverized and grounded, can act asasolidcarrier of ions. For clay catalysts to be effective, temperature and heat playsanimportant role. In this research, the impact of temperature, predominantly temperature of 200°Cand400°C on acid activated clay from the Gegu-egba region of KOGI state is studied. Inthisresearch, two samples labeled F1A and F1B are studied. After treatment withacid, thetwo samples were calcined at different temperatures. F1A is calcined at 200°CandF1Bwas calcined at 400°C. At 400°C, there was increased surface area, pore volumeandpore size, compared to the sample calculated at 200°C. According to the Brunauer- Emmett-Teller analysis, the surface area value of the acid activated clay samplesurpassed the surface area of the untreated clay sample. Fromthese results, it isobserved that temperature has a significant effect on the surface area of clay catalysts. According to the Scanning Electron Microscopy - Energy dispersive X-ray(SEM-EDX)analysis, the F1A sample heated at 200°C, has a lower pore volume anddiametercompared to the F1B sample heated at higher temperature of 400°C.This further provesthe Brunauer-Emmett-Teller analysis, that temperature has an effect of poresizeordiameter as temperature increases the pore size by expansion of pore diameter intheclay micro structure. The SEM-EDX analysis of acid activated clay sample F1A and F1B as well astheuntreated clay sample F, reveals that acid activation causes an alteration totheclaymicro structure leading to an increase in surface area, pore density and pore size. According to the Fourier transform Infra-red (FT-IR) spectroscopy, The silicaandalumina clay structure is confirmed by 900–1200cm-1 broadband whichischaracterized by Si-O and Si-O-Si stretching vibrations as well as Al-OHvibrations. Theabsorption frequencies, 2009.2cm-1 which corresponds to N=C=S stretchingconfirmsthe presence on organic carbon in the untreated clay sample F. This results showsthatthe acid treatment improves the purity of the catalyst and confirms the clay structure.