Assay of the Molecular Compositions of Diff erent Clay Types based on Industrial Applications

Department of Chemical and Process Engineering, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka

*Address for Correspondence: Suresh Aluvihara, Department of Chemical and Process Engineering, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. Email: sureshaluvihare@gmail.com

Received: 05 June 2020; Accepted: 09 July 2020; Published: 11 July 2020

Keywords: Clay, Functional Groups, Organic and inorganic molecules, Infrared spectroscopy, Chemical composition

Citation of this article: Aluvihara S, Kalpage CS (2020) Assay of the Molecular Compositions of Different Clay types based on
Industrial Applications. Rea Int J of Che and Ana l and Bio Chem. 1(1): 001-004. DOI: 10.37179/rijcabc.000001.

Introduction

Clay is an industrially applicable natural resource because of the vastly found some physical and chemical qualities of such clay. In the ancient world, the industries based on clays had been limited for a few tasks as follows [1-6].

• Building materials
• Pottery industries
• Fancy items

But according to the requirements and environmental issues of the society, the usage of clay is increasing via different orientations such as the water treatment applications, ceramics and porcelains, catalytic activities, and ion exchanging materials including as a single material or composite material. When comparing the chemical compositions of clays, it is known as a group of clay minerals such as montmorillonite, kaolinite, and some other ferrous minerals including metal oxides. When considering the structures of clays, they were identified as some complex structures because of the presence of complex silicate structures [1-4, 6, 7]. The adsorption process is much considerable parameter regarding the advanced chemical applications of water treatments and the kaolinite, montmorillonite and some of the other ferrous minerals play a huge role in the water purification processes. According to the definitions of the adsorption two major components have been defined namely adsorbate and adsorber. The adsorption capacity of an adsorber may be varied with the type of

adsorber and type of adsorbate because of the strength of electrostatic forces which are acting between both adsorbate and adsorber. The categorization could be done as follows with the examples [3-8].

• Adsorber – Clay, composite minerals
• Adsorbate – Heavy metals, organic matter, inorganic matter, radioactive elements.

The applicability of different clay varieties on the different industrial purposes has been investigated through the most of modern research and the development of some new clay types and disclosing of the important characteristics of such clays create some new approaches for most of the science and engineering stuff. In addition that there were found a series of different industrial uses of clay because of the presence of some specific components in clays such as the metallic ions, Fe minerals, CaO, and so on. Based on the recent researches following advanced characteristics were investigated in different clay verities in the world [8-14].

• Ion exchanging material

 • Refractory material 

In the existing research, there were expected to characterize three different selected clay types based on the analysis of their organic and inorganic functional groups and also to make some review on their applications in advanced technological purposes.

Materials and Experiments

According to the scopes and objectives of the existing research, three different clay species were selected for the investigations and the representative samples of such clays were collected from the available locations in Sri Lanka as shown in (Figure 1). In the collections of the representative clay samples from the relevant locations, the following precautions were practiced based on the mitigation measures of the experimental errors.

• Using of non-contaminated collecting tools
• Using of nonmetallic tools
• Storing of collected clay samples in polythene bags
• Avoiding the exposure of clay samples to the direct sunlight because it is possible to happen the evaporation of water/moisture also with some composed elements in clay or decay of some elements.

The selected clay types were labeled under the names which were based on their existing uses as described below.

• Anthill clay- Found from an anthill which was built by termites (Matale area)
• Brick clay- Using in the manufacturing of bricks (Maduragoda area)
• Roof tile clay- Using in the manufacturing of roof tiles (Dankotuwa area).

The representative portions of the collected clay samples are shown in the (Figure 2). Some sufficient clay portion from each clay type emerged from each clay bulk. Each clay portion was oven dried for 24 hours
under the temperature of 1100C. The dried clay samples were separately dissolved in large measuring cylinders using distilled water while shaking the systems for a few minutes. The well-shaken clay solutions were countenanced to settle down about three hours. Meanwhile, the mutations of the systems were observed. The upper portion of the settled clay particles in each measuring cylinder was sucked and collected using a medical dropper. The upper parts of the measuring cylinders consisted of the tiniest clay particles of each clay sample. The collected upper portions were oven-dried for 24 hours under the temperature of 1100C. The dried clay samples were crushed using a ceramic crucible and finer powdered clay portions were prepared from each clay type [1-3, 5, 6].

In the selection of the final representative clay sample from each clay type, the coning and quartering method adhered as shown in (Figure 3). This well-recognized method for the selection of some representative sample from a large portion of solid material in even-handed. According to the definitions of such a method, the final representative sample should be either the integration of quarter A and quarter C or quarter B and quarter D. Eventually the selected representative clay samples were analyzed using a Fourier transforms infrared (FT-IR) spectrometer. The instrument is shown in (Figure 4).

Figure 1: Clay sample collection areas in Sri Lanka.

According to the obtained results for the Fourier transforms infrared (FT-IR) analysis, the chemical composition of the relevant clays was confirmed and their three dimensional (3D) structures were constructed using advanced computational chemical software while interpreting their important characteristics such as the bond
lengths and bond angles.

Results and Discussion

The Fourier transforms infrared (FT-IR) spectrums of three different types of clays are shown in the following figures.

Figure 3: Coning and quartering method of representative sample collection.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 4: Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) Spectrometer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 6: Fourier transforms infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy of brick clay (absorbance).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 7: Fourier transforms infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy of roof tile clay (absorbance).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The highlighted the main peaks of the FT- IR spectrums of anthill clay are described in (Table 1) [1-4, 8].
When considering the peaks at the above wavenumbers, it is possible to identify the presence of kaolinite in anthill clay as a clay mineral because of the identifications of the bonds of OH stretching of inner surface hydroxyl groups, OH stretching of structural hydroxyl groups, OH deformations of inner hydroxyl groups, Al-O-Si deformations and Si-O-Si deformations at the relevant wave numbers [3-5 14].
The chemical structures of kaolinite with bond lengths and bond angles are shown in Scheme 1 and Scheme 2. In addition that the peak at 999cm-1 indicates the presence of muscovite and the peaks at 460cm-1 indicate the presence of quartz [1-5, 9, 10]. The highlighted main peaks of the FT- IR spectrums of brick clay are described in (Table 2) [1-3, 5, 7].

The peaks at 3702 cm-1, 3629 cm-1, 1001 cm-1, 909 cm-1, 530 cm- 1, 469 cm-1 indicates the presence of OH stretching of inner surface hydroxyl groups, OH stretching of structural hydroxyl groups, OH deformations of inner hydroxyl groups, Al-O-Si deformations, and Si-O-Si deformations [3,5,14].
Therefore, the results confirmed the contents of kaolinite, muscovite, and quartz in brick clay [1, 3, 4, 5, 7].
The highlighted main peaks of the FT- IR spectrums of roof tile clay are described in (Table 3) [1-4, 6, 7].

The FT-IR spectrum of roof tile clay showed the peaks at 3696 cm- 1, 3623 cm-1, 1001 cm-1, 915 cm-1, 530 cm-1, and 463 cm-1 that indicate the presence of OH stretching of inner surface hydroxyl groups, OH
stretching of structural hydroxyl groups, OH deformations of inner hydroxyl groups, Al-O-Si deformations, and Si-O-Si deformations [2,3,4,14]. Therefore, the mineralogy of roof tile clay is much similar to the other two types of clays [1-3, 5-7].

The mineral kaolinite has been identified as a strong adsorber because of the presence of hydroxyl groups and other electrostatic forces of bound atoms and the surfaces of such clays provide some platform for the process called the adsorption. The adsorption process is quite useful in water treatment applications such as the removal of heavy metals, removal of radioactive elements, removal of some inorganic pollutants, and some
pathogens. Also, physical property porosity is an important factor for the applications based on the key process of adsorption because of the increase of the surface area due to the increase of porosity [1, 3, 4, 7-10].
The three-dimensional structures of kaolinite, muscovite, and quartz with their bond lengths and bond angles are shown in the following schemes.

Table 1: Assignments of the main peaks of the FT- IR spectrum of anthill clay.
Wave Number (cm-1)	Indicated Functional Group/Compound
3695	OH stretching of inner surface hydroxyl groups
3628	OH stretching of structural hydroxyl groups
999	Si-O stretching
910	OH deformations of inner hydroxyl  groups
527	Al-O-Si deformation
460	Si-O-Si deformation
411	-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Table 3: Assignments of the main peaks of FT- IR spectrum of roof tile clay.
Wave Number (cm-1)	Indicated Functional Group/Compound
3696	OH stretching of inner surface hydroxyl groups
3623	OH stretching of structural hydroxyl groups
1001	Si-O stretching
915	OH deformations of inner hydroxyl  groups
530	Al-O-Si deformation
463	Si-O-Si deformation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Table 2: Assignments of the main peaks of FT- IR spectrum of brick clay.
Wave Number (cm-1)	Indicated Functional Group/Compound
3702	OH stretching of inner surface hydroxyl groups
3629	OH stretching of structural hydroxyl groups
1001	Si-O stretching
909	OH deformations of inner hydroxyl  groups
530	Al-O-Si deformation
469	Si-O-Si deformation
420	-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scheme 1:  Bond lengths of kaolinite.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scheme 2: Bond angles of kaolinite.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scheme 4: Bond angles of muscovite.

Scheme 5: Bond lengths of quartz.

Scheme 6: Bond lengths of quartz.

 

Scheme 3: Bond lengths of muscovite.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Conclusions

According to the FT-IR analysis of clays, there were observed the presence of kaolinite, muscovite, and quartz in each of the analyzed clay type. In the clarifications of the properties of such minerals, those minerals have been identified as strong adsorbers for some other metals such as the heavy metals and pathogens. Th erefore, it is possible to conclude and suggest that the applicability of such clays for the advanced water treatment applications including the heavy metal removal and removal of some pathogens from different wastewater types. Also, the investigation of the chemical composition using some advanced analytical methods such as the neutron activation analysis (NAA) is recommended as a future work for the vast analysis of such clay including most of the components.

Acknowledgment

We return thanks to the voluntary material providers and laboratory staff of department of chemistry, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka.

 

 

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