Physico-Chemical and Morphological Changes of Sayong Kaolinite Clay Treated with Sulphuric Acid for Enzyme Immobilization

Abstract

This study analyzed the effects of sulphuric acid (H2SO4) treatment on pysico-chemical properties and morphological changes of clay obtained from Sg. Sayong, Perak. The clay was ground and sieved to <150μm and treated with different concentrations of H2SO4. The treatment was completed by refluxing the clay with different concentration of H2SO4 (1M, 5M and 10M ) at 100 °C for 4 hours and followed by calcination at 500 °C for 1 hour. The physic-chemical properties and morphological changes of the untreated and treated clay were compared using Surface Area Analyser, X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Field Emission Scanning Electron Micrograph (FESEM), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and Fourier Transformed Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). The results showed that acid treatment of 5M increased the surface area from 25 m2/g to 75 m2/g and the pore volume increased from 0.1518 cc/g to 0.3546 cc/g. The nanopore size of the clay decreased from 24.8 nm to 19.4 nm after treated with acid. This can be explained due to the elimination of the exchangeable cations and generation of microporosity. The results of XRF showed SiO2 increased from 58.34% to 74.52% and Al2O3 reduced from 34.6% to 18.31%. The mineral oxides such as Fe2O3, MgO, CaO, K2O and TiO2 also reduced. This concluded that H2SO4 treatment has led to significant removal of octahedral Al3+, Fe3+ cations and other impurities. In conclusion, this study showed the physico-chemical properties and morphology of Sayong clay were improved once treated with H2SO4 and therefore suggests better supporting material for enzyme immobilization.