Assessing influence of hydrochloric acid leaching on structural changes and bleaching performance of Nigerian clay from Udi

Clay from Udi in Nigeria was mined, ground, and acid-leached at different concentrations of hydrochloric acid to produce adsorbents of varying properties. The raw and acid-leached samples were characterized using x-ray fluorescence (XRF) and Fourier transforms infra-red spectroscopy (FTIR) to examine the structural modifications in the clay as a result of acid-leaching. The analysis showed that the acid-leaching process caused several modifications of the clay samples. The surface area, Si/[Al + Fe + Mg] ratio, adsorption capacity were found to have increased in the acid-leached samples. The acid-leached samples were tested in order to ascertain their performance in bleaching palm oil and it was observed that the bleaching efficiency increased from 29.8% to 66.7%. The acid-leached sample prepared with 7M hydrochloric acid yielded an adsorbent that was efficient in bleaching palm oil under the experimental conditions. The isotherm analysis showed that the bleaching process followed the Freundlich equation.