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ISRN Ceramics
Volume 2012, Article ID 658508, 5 pages
doi:10.5402/2012/658508

Research Article
Characterization, Acid Activation, and Bleaching
Performance of Ibeshe Clay, Lagos, Nigeria
M. A. Usman, V. I. Ekwueme, T. O. Alaje, and A. O. Mohammed
Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Lagos, Lagos 101017, Nigeria
Correspondence should be addressed to M. A. Usman, [email protected]
Received 23 December 2011; Accepted 11 January 2012
Academic Editor: P. Weisbecker
Copyright 2012 M. A. Usman et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License,
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
This paper investigated the possibility of using clay characterization as a major tool to predict its suitability for bleaching of
vegetable oil, namely, palm oil. The clay sample collected from Ibeshe deposit was characterized by X-ray diraction (XRD).
The results of the XRD showed that the clay is composed of dioctahedral kaolinite and dickite, silica, ilmenite, and merlinite.
The compositional analysis using atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) showed that the Na2 O : CaO ratio is 0.22, a value less
than one and indicative of the absence of bentonite which presence, just like montmorillonite, confers bleaching activity to clays.
Furthermore, the SiO2 : Al2 O3 ratio of 1.12 (greater than one) is suggestive of a clay suitable not for bleaching but for zeolite
development. Actual laboratory tests for bleaching performance evaluation confirmed the prediction above that the clay indeed
has poor bleaching action as shown by percent colour reduction. The colour reduction for natural clay was 9.1%. This value only
increased to 27.3% after 3M HCl activation, a value still very low for eective bleaching.

1. Introduction
The impurity load in vegetable oils can be reduced considerably by bleaching which is an adsorption process that utilizes
clay as adsorbent. This may be naturally active or activated
clays. Naturally active clays possess some bleaching activity
and show a high adsorption capacity due to their high surface
area. However, activated bleaching clays show a much higher
activity [1]. Richardson [2] reported that activated bleaching
earths are produced from clays which generally contain high
proportions of montmorillonites through acid activation.
Often times, clays exhibiting high natural bleaching power
are not suitable for activation, and most clay used for activated clay manufacture is poor in natural bleaching ability.
The correlation between chemical composition of clays and
their adsorptive power is poor, and in fact poor adsorbents
may have identical composition to those that are active.
Therefore, the scientific basis for evaluating the bleaching
potency of clays involves actual testing in the laboratory [3].
Adsorbents are activated by a mineral acid treatment
resulting in the dealumination of the structure. A number of
metal ions in the octahedral layer and impurities such as
calcite are also removed by leaching with an inorganic acid

at elevated temperatures [4]. In addition, the edges of the

platelets are opened, and, as a result of all these changes, the
pore diameters and the surface area increase. The pore diameters and the surface area with acid treatment range from 2.0
to 6.0 nm and 200 to 400 m2 /g, respectively, [4]. The higher
the degree of activation, the higher the degree of cation substitution by the hydrogen ions of the acid in the clay structure:
Ca-bentonite + 2H+ H-bentonite + Ca2+ .

(1)

Such treatment leads to leaching of aluminum, magnesium,

and iron cations from the octahedral layer. Acid activation
promotes catalytic activities by increasing the number of
Bronsted and Lewis acid sites. During bleaching, the acidic
properties will increase free fatty acids by splitting triglyceride molecules while the catalytic properties are responsible
for the decomposition of peroxides [4].
Important bleaching or adsorption criteria are quantity
of activated earth, dosage, time, mixing, temperature, and
atmospheric pressure and vacuum [5]. The primary function
of the bleaching process is to remove peroxides and secondary oxidation products. In addition pigments and any trace

2
of gums and soaps from refining are removed [5]. The
bleaching process is actually performed under steam/nitrogen blanket, vacuum, or in an open vessel. The vacuum
provides advantages, like low temperature drying of oils,
moisture removal from clay, and avoidance of contact with
oxygen of the air [6]. This is because the activated clay may
act as a catalyst for oxidation in the presence of oxygen
at elevated temperatures. The resulting oxidation products
lead to degeneration and short shelf life of the final products. Generally bleaching process is carried out at contact
temperature in the range of 80120 C and contact time
ranging from 2040 minutes under vacuum. Within this
time, absorption of colouring matter on activated clay can
be equilibrated under sucient activation. The dosage of
bleaching earth can vary depending on oil type. Chemical
refining usually uses 0.52% on a weight basis. However,
24% bleaching earth can be used to meet final colour
requirements [4]. Furthermore, the dosage of activated clay
should be the minimum amount to eect removal of
impurities as measured by peroxide reduction [5]. Generally
oil loss results from oil lost to filter cake. Baranowsky et al.
[1] reported that for oil retention, a typical value is approximately 40%. This value can be reduced to 2030% by a
suitable procedure such as use of steam or nitrogen at the end
of the filtration. They estimated that, for each 100 kg of fresh
bleaching earth, 2545 kg of oil are lost. Finer particle sizes
of clays produce better bleaching results. However, filtration
rate and oil retention can be aected adversely [4]. Therefore,
ecient filtration, short filtration times, and minimization of
oil retention on filter cake are necessary [7].
Bleaching clays normally contain 1018% moisture. If
the clay is completely dried prior to use, its structure collapses, causing reduction in the bleaching power because of
decreased surface area. In addition to these, adsorptive capacity of acid activated clay is reduced if clay is added to hot
oil. This is because the moisture in the clay is driven o
too rapidly causing collapse of the clay structure. The acid
activated earth should be added to dry, refined oil at 80 C
under vacuum conditions and then rapidly brought up to
working temperature and held at that temperature for
enough time to provide maximal bleach [5].
This work is aimed at using characterization techniques
to provide useful insight into the potential use for Ibeshe clay,
particularly its bleaching performance, and to assess how well
this prediction correlates with actual laboratory results.

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. Materials. The clay sample was taken from Ibeshe deposit, Epe Road, Ikorodu, Lagos. The crude palm oil was obtained locally from the Yaba market. Other materials used
were hydrochloric acid, acetic acid, caustic soda, wijs reagent, sodium thiosulphate (all analytical grades reagents),
distilled water, and phenolphthalein.
2.2. Characterization
2.2.1. X-Ray Diraction. Analyses of metal oxide phases
present in the raw sample as well as average crystallite sizes

ISRN Ceramics
were determined by means of wide-angle X-ray analysis. Xray diraction measurements were done on a Panalytical
XPERT-PRO X-ray diractometer with Cu-K radiation of
wavelength 1.541 A at 40 kV and 30 mA. The scan range was
10 through 100 at a scanning rate of 1 degree per minute
and with a step size of 0.04 . Diraction peaks of crystalline
phases were compared with those of standard compounds.
2.2.2. Chemical Analysis. The quantities of SiO2 , Al2 O3 ,
Fe2 O3 CaO, Na2 O, K2 O, and MgO in the clay were determined using atomic absorption spectroscopy.
2.3. Activation of Clay. The activation method followed was
an adaptation of that of Oboh et al. [3]. The clay sample was
dried under the sun at an ambient temperature of 35 C
to make them amenable to grinding. The clay sample was
then reduced to fines by grinding with a laboratory mortar
and pestle. The fines were sieved with a standard sieve 80
of 180 micrometer. Six concentrations of hydrochloric acid
were prepared (0.0 M, 0.2 M, 0.5 M, 1.0 M, 2.0 M, and 3.0 M).
50 g of the clay sample was mixed with 250 mL each of
the dierent concentrations of hydrochloric acid, and the
mixture was heated at 105 C for 30 minutes. After slow
cooling, the slurry was filtered and washed free of acid as
indicated by a pH meter. The clay was then dried at a
temperature of 110 C for 3 hours, ground using a mortar and
pestle, sieved to 180 micrometer, and stored in desiccators.
2.4. Bleaching Studies. The crude palm oil was first degummed by adding 50 mL of 5% wt/wt acetic acid to 1000 g
of oil at 80 C and stirred for 15 minutes. The mixture was
centrifuged. Two layers were formed, oil and aqueous which
contained phosphatides. The degummed oil was neutralized
by adding 4 M caustic soda and heating to a temperature
of 110 C for 20 minutes. Two layers were formed after
centrifuging, oil and soap. The brownish coloured soap
was at the bottom while the oil was above it. 100 g of the
neutralized oil was then mixed with 2 g of each concentration
of hydrochloric acid at 110 C for 30 minutes. The bleached
oil was cooled to 70 C and filtered. The activated clay had the
colour of the oil but on heating returned to its former colour.
2.5. Analysis
2.5.1. Determination of Clay Moisture Content. 10 g of clay
sample was used for moisture content determination. The
mass of the clay was checked before and after drying. The clay
was dried at 105 C for 15 minutes. The dierence in mass
was recorded as the moisture content.
2.5.2. Determination of Edible Oil Moisture Content. The
edible oil moisture content was determined by the method
described by Snell and Ettre [8].
2.5.3. Free Fatty Acid Content. The amount of free fatty
acids was determined by simple titration using the method
described by Snell and Ettre [8].

ISRN Ceramics

2.5.4. Peroxide Value (POV) Determination. Oil oxidation

was determined by measuring the amount of peroxides.
Peroxide value is most often expressed as milliequivalent of
oxygen per kilogram of fat. Iodine is produced from potassium iodide solution by the peroxides present in oil and
titrated against 0.01 M sodium thiosulphate. Peroxide value
was measured as reported by Snell and Ettre [8]. A blank test
using 0.1 mL of 0.01 M sodium thiosulphate was carried out
and the peroxide value calculated as follows:
PV =

(Vs Vb )M 1000
,
W

(2)

where Vs : volume in mL of sodium thiosulphate solution of

0.01 M used for the determination, Vb : volume in mL of
sodium thiosulphate solution of 0.01 M used for the blank
test, W: weight in grams of the test portion, and M: morality
of sodium thiosulphate solution.
2.5.5. Determination of Iodine Value (IV). The iodine value
of each sample was determined according to the EN ISO 3961
Wijs method [9]. Iodine monochloride (Wijs reagent) reacts
with the double bond, and the excess reagent (as iodine) was
titrated with sodium thiosulphate solution.
2.5.6. Assessment of Bleaching Performance. 5 g of clay samples, natural and activated, was mixed separately with 100 mL
of crude palm oil and heated, with constant stirring, to 105 C
and maintained for one hour. The slurry was separated by the
use of a filter paper and the colour of the oil measured with
a Lovibond Tintometer 12944. The reduction in colour was
calculated as
Colour reduction (%)
(3)
crude oil colour bleached oil colour
=
100.
crude oil colour
2.5.7. Measurement of pH. 5 g of the clay sample was soaked
in 100 mL distilled water for 12 hours. After thorough mixing, the pH of 25 mL of the solution was tested with a pH
meter.
2.5.8. Oil Retention by Adsorbent. In the bleaching process,
oil retention is required to ascertain the loss of oil due to its
retention in the bleaching earth. Oil retention was calculated
according to
Oil retention (%)
W, filter cake (WBE WH2 0)
=
100,
W, filter cake

(4)

W: weight in g, BE: bleaching earth [1].

2.5.9. Filtration Rate. This is the rate at which suspended solids are removed from a fluid by passing through a permeable
fabric or porous bed of materials. The rate at which the
palm oil passes through the filter leaving behind the clay was
observed.

Table 1: Chemical composition of the Ibeshe clay sample.

Clay

Loss on
SiO2 Al2 O3 MgO K2 O Na2 O CaO Fe2 O3 ignition
(%)
41.46 37.10 1.32 0.12 0.20 0.92 0.10 18.78

Raw
3 M HCl
41.47 36.92
activated

0.48 0.08 0.05 0.60 0.07

20.33

3. Results and Discussion

3.1. Characterization. The compositional analyses of both
the raw and activated clay are shown in Table 1.
The result showed that the ratio of Na2 O to CaO was 0.22,
a value less than 1 and indicative of the absence of a swelling
bentonite [10]. Similarly the amount of SiO2 and Al2 O3 in
the raw clay gives SiO2 /Al2 O3 ratio of 1.12 which was greater
than 1. This was well within the range of clays suitable for
zeolite synthesis as suggested by Breck [11]. Thus, Ibeshe clay
in Ikorodu, Lagos, Nigeria, may be appropriate as a starting
raw material for zeolite catalyst development. Table 1 also
shows that, except for SiO2 which recorded an increase in
amount from 41.46% to 41.47%, the amounts of all other
constituents decreased after activation. This result was in
conformity with the trend reported by Motlagh et al. [12].
Arfaoui et al. [13] rationalised this trend by stating that acid
activation involved a partial destruction of the octahedral
layer by dissolution of the Al3+ , Mg2+ , and Fe3+ cations.
The X-ray powdered diraction pattern of the raw Ibeshe
clay is shown in Figure 1, and Table 2 displays the pattern
list. The study showed that this is mixed clay composed
mainly of the silica, kaolinite group, with lesser amounts of
Ilmenite and Merlinoite. The kaolinite group included the
dioctahedral minerals kaolinite [Al2 Si2 O5 (OH)4 ] and dickite
[Al2 Si2 O5 (OH)4 ]. This result agrees well with that of AAS
which showed the absence of bentonite. Furthermore, the
XRD lends more credence to the claim of the presence of
kaolinite in the clay, a fact that reinforces the suitability of
Ibeshe clay for zeolite development.
3.2. Eect of Hydrochloric Acid Activation. The hydrochloric
acid activation of the clay aects its physiochemical properties as shown in Table 3. Activation resulted in increase in
acidity which showed a decrease in PH from 5.90 to 3.98 for
the special case of raw and 3 M hydrochloric acid activated
clay. This is plausible given the substitution of the cations
by the hydrogen ions of the acid. Acid activation caused an
increase in moisture content to occur from 14.2% in raw clay
to 17.4% in 3 M HCl activated clay, representing an increase
of 3.2%. The moisture content for the clay lies within 10
18% recommended by Wiedermann [5] as being appropriate
to ensure that the clay structure does not buckle and loses
its adsorptive capacity. The greater the concentration of the
acid used, the greater the bleaching performance of the
clay. The eect of acid activation on oil retention increased
markedly by 18%, from 34% to 52% for raw and 3 M HCl
activated clay, respectively. This is attributable to the fact that
acid activation creates more void spaces through leaching of

ISRN Ceramics
Table 2: XRD pattern list.

Visible

Ref. code

Score

01-085-0865
00-058-2002
01-075-3756
00-029-0989
00-058-2030

46
28
14
15
18

Compound
name
a -SiO2
Dickite-2M1
Ilmenite
Merlinite
Kaolinite-1Ad

Table 3: Physicochemical properties and beaching performance of

raw and activated clay.

Raw clay
3 M HCl act. clay

Moisture %
14.2
17.4

Colour
Oil
reduction % retention %
5.90
9.091
34
3.98
27.273
52

Scale fac.

Chem. formula

0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000

0.725
0.115
0.061
0.112
0.113

SiO2
Al2 Si2 O5 (OH)4
(Ni.5 Mg.5)TiO3
K5 Ca2 (Al9 Si23 ..
Al2 Si2 O5 (OH)

10000
9000
8000

PH

7000
Counts

Clay

Displ. [ 2Th]

6000
5000
4000
3000
2000

some components and cation-hydrogen ion exchange. There

is probably some contribution from the moisture content
which helps to firm up the clay structure, thereby preventing
it from collapsing.

3.4. Bleaching Evaluation. The bleaching assessment for the

natural clay as evident from Table 3 is indeed very poor with
a colour reduction of 9.091%. Upon activation with increasing HCl concentrations, there was increase in the Lovibond
colour reduction from 9.091% to 27.275% as the concentration of the HCl used for activation varied from 0.2 M to 3.0 M
as aptly displayed in Figure 3. This value is low considering
that Oboh et al. [3] had reported colour reduction values
as high as 90.70% after activation. The implication of this
was that the Ibeshe clay neither possesses intrinsic bleaching
capability nor is it amenable to improved performance
through acid activation. The result of the laboratory test of
the bleaching capability of the Ibeshe clay agrees well with the

0
0

20

40
60
80
Position (2) (copper (Cu))

100

120

Figure 1: X-ray diractogram of raw clay.

60
Values of chemical characteristics

3.3. Chemical Characteristics of Crude Palm Oil and Bleached

Oil with 3 M HCl Activated Clay. Figure 2 shows that there
was a decrease in the values of POV and IV, from pretreatment values of 3.6 meq/kg and 52.66 to 2.8 meq/kg and
40.61 posttreatment figures. This represents a decrease of
about 22.22% and 22.88%, respectively, for POV and IV.
The decrease in value is an indication that the clay showed
some activity. For the iodine value, it shows a reduction in
the degree of unsaturation, that is, the presence of compounds in the oil containing double bonds. Again this buttresses that the activated clay has some bleaching capacity.
Furthermore, increases in the FFA and moisture content were
recorded after activation, representing 34.57% and 11.50%,
respectively. The increase for FFA was contrary to the expected trend. However, this can be explained away by invoking
the rationalization that the moisture in the raw oil might
have caused the hydrolysis of palm oil triglycerides resulting
in the formation of free fatty acids [14].

1000

52.66
50
40.61

40
30
20
10

3.5 4.71

3.6 2.8

0.2

2.5

Moisture content
FFA (%)
POV
IV
Chemical characteristics of raw and 3M HCl-bleached palm oil
Crude oil
3M activated

Figure 2: Chemical characteristics of raw and 3 M HCl bleached

palm oil.

prediction, based on chemical and X-ray diraction studies,

that the clay is not suitable for bleaching of vegetable oil.
Figure 4 shows that there is no significant eect of size
distribution on both the bleaching ecacy reported as percent colour reduction and percent oil retention. However, the
trend of oil retention against mesh size follows the expected
pattern increasing with decreasing particle size.

Lovibond colour reduction, LCR (%)

ISRN Ceramics

5
with the attendant costs can be eliminated. It is recommended that further studies be carried out to explore the potential
of these clays for other industrial utilization, namely, zeolite
production.

30
25
20
15

References

10

[1] K. Baranowsky, W. Beyer, G. Billek et al., Technologies for

industrial processing of fats and oils, European Journal of
Lipid Science and Technology, vol. 103, pp. 505551, 2001.
[2] L. L. Richardson, Use of bleaching, clays, in processing edible
oils, Journal of the American Oil Chemists Society, vol. 55, no.
11, pp. 777780, 1978.
[3] A. O. Oboh, O. C. Aworhi, and O. K. Agagu, The use of Nigerian clays in vegetable oil refining: evaluation of some Nigerian
clays as potential bleaching earths, Nigerian Food Journal, vol.
5, pp. 4251, 1987.
[4] D. F. Valenzuela and S. P. De Souza, Studies on the acid activation of Brazilian smectitic clays, Quimica Nova, vol. 24, no.
3, pp. 345353, 2001.
[5] L. H. Wiedermann, Degumming, refining and bleaching
soybean oil, Journal of the American Oil Chemists Society, vol.
58, no. 3, pp. 159166, 1981.
[6] Youngs Corporation, Users Guide of Activated Clay, http://
www.youngscorp.com/.
[7] D. A. Morgan, D. B. Shaw, M. J. Sidebottom, T. C. Soon, and R.
S. Taylor, The function of bleaching earths in the processing
of palm, palm kernel and coconut oils, Journal of the American
Oil Chemists Society, vol. 62, no. 2, pp. 292299, 1985.
[8] F. D Snell and L. S. Ettre, Enclopedia of Industrial Chemical
Analysis, Interscience, London, UK, 1969.
[9] ISO, Animal and Vegetable Fats and OilsDetermination of
Iodine Value, British Standard number 3961, 1999.
[10] Z. Wu, C. Li, X. Sun et al., Characterization, acid activation
and bleaching performance of bentonite from Xinjiang,
Chinese Journal of Chemical Engineering, vol. 14, no. 2, pp.
253258, 2006.
[11] D. W. Breck, Zeolite Molecular Sieve Structure, Chemistry and
Uses, Wiley Inter Science, New York, NY, USA, 1974.
[12] K. M. M. Motlagh, A. Z. Rigi, and A. A. Yuzbashi, To Evaluate
an Acid Activated Bentonite from Khorasani (Iran) for Use as
a Bleaching Clay, IUST International, Journal of Engineering
Science, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 8387, 2008.
[13] S. Arfaoui, N. Frini-Srasra, and E. Srasra, Modelling of the
adsorption of the chromium ion by modified clays, Desalination, vol. 222, no. 1-3, pp. 474481, 2008.
[14] D. D. Brooks, Bleaching Factors that Aect the Oil Loss,
in Proceedings of the PORIM International Palm Oil Congress
(Chemistry and Technology), pp. 4551, 1999.

5
0
0M
HCl

0.2M
HCl

0.5M
HCl

1M
HCl

2M
HCl

3M
HCl

HCl concentration
LCR (%)

Figure 3: Variation of the Lovibond colour reduction (%) of palm

oil bleached with clay activated with dierent concentrations of
HCl.

80
70

Value (%)

60
50
40
30
20
10
0

150 m

180 m

106 m

Size of 3M activated clay

Oil retention (%)
Lovibond colour

Figure 4: Oil retention (%) and Lovibond colour (%) of 3 M

activated clay.

4. Conclusion
Clay from Ibeshe, Ikorodu, Lagos state, Nigeria, consists of
dioctahedral kaolinite and dickite, silica, ilmenite, and merlinite. The presence of the kaolinite and dickite was suggestive
that the clay would possess poor bleaching capacity. The
result of the chemical analysis with SiO2 /Al2 O3 ratio of 1.12
lent credence to the foregoing assertion, such ratio suggesting
clay appropriate for zeolite development. Actual laboratory
tests have confirmed the predictions made based on X-ray
diraction and chemical analyses that the clay is not suitable
for vegetable oil refining.
This work showed that, through characterization, useful
insight was gained into the appropriate use for the Ibeshe
clay. Such insight helps to determine a priori the suitability
or otherwise of a clay, not only for bleaching but also for catalytic (and sundry activities). Thus lengthy laboratory tests

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