Effect of Beneficiation on the Characterization of Getso Kaolin

In their raw forms, clay minerals are found with a number of inherent impurities which make them unsuitable for most industrial applications. In order to overcome this problem and add value to clay minerals, beneficiation process is an indispensable solution. This study investigates effect of wet beneficiation process on the characteristics of a local clay mined from Getso village of Kano State, Nigeria. Mineralogical characterization of the clay was carried out using X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyzer. Chemical characterization of the clay was carried out using X-ray fluorescence analyzer. Physicochemical characterization of the clay was carried out using pH meter and density analysis conducted using density bottle. XRD analysis of Getso clay showed that the raw clay had 8 wt% kaolinite and 51% quartz. Wet beneficiation resulted into 53% improvement of the kaolinite content and 47% reduction of quartz impurity. The XRF analysis has shown that silica-alumina ratio of the raw Getso clay was 1.55 and this reduced to 1.49 after beneficiation. The physicochemical characterization of the clay has shown that Getso clay is neutral, the raw clay and beneficiated clay had average pH values of 7.5 and 7.3, respectively. Specific gravity values of the raw and beneficiated clay were 2.24 and 2.04, respectively. The beneficiation process had been effective as substantial increase in kaolinte content was observed and a reasonable decrese in the impurity contents was observed from the raw to the beneficiated clay. The Garnet content was completely reduced to zero while quartz, clinochlore and orthoclase were reduced by 24%, 9% and 13% respectively. The clay obtained after the beneficiation be serve as good raw material for production of whitewares, high grade ceramics in synthesis of zeolitic materials.