Characterization of Natural Clay from Gowa Regency, South Sulawesi Province, Indonesia

Abstract

Clay is one of the essential natural minerals in human life, especially in the industrial sector, which is widely used as a raw material for ceramics fabrication, adsorbents, and photocatalysts. The characteristics of clay significantly affect the quality of the resulting material. This study will study the aspects of natural clay in Gowa Regency, South Sulawesi Province, without the leaching process and with acid leaching. Acid leaching uses 3 M HCl, previously roasted at a temperature of 600 oC. The characterization consisted of metal oxide analysis using XRF, mineral content analysis using XRD, morphological analysis, and compound content using SEM-EDX. The results showed that the primary metal oxide content in natural clay was Fe2O3, Al2O3, and SiO2, the content of Fe2O3 decreased after the raw clay was treated with acid. The main mineral content in the sample is quartz, kaolinite, and hematite. The sample's morphology looks different after being given acid treatment; the acid leaching natural clay sample shows a porous morphology, while the natural clay without acid leaching shows the morphology in the form of lumps. The EDX mapping analysis showed that the number of impurities decreased after being given acid treatment.

Characterization of Natural Clay from Tulungagung Regency, East Java Province, Indonesia

“…From Table 1, it can be identified that both NC-1 and NC-2 have main component Fe, Si, and followed by Al elements. The high content of Fe is usually found in natural clay and similar with previous study (Side & Putri, 2022).…”

“…The main component of clay in District Tanah Miring Merauke are quartz, illite, nordstrandite, hematite, and osbornite, and has high crystallinity (Darwanto et al, 2019). The main component of natural clay from Gowa, South Sulawesi are Fe2O3, Al2O3, and SiO2, while the main mineral components are quartz, kaolinite, and hematite (Side & Putri, 2022). XRD result of natural clay from Bojonegoro, East Java showed that it consists of kaolin, quartz, and feldspar minerals (Setyaningrum et al, 2021).…”

The Effect of Acid Treatment on Metal Oxide Content of South Sulawesi Natural Clay

“…One of the provinces in Indonesia which has quite abundant mineral resources in the form of clay is South Sulawesi, particularly in Gowa Regency. Previous researchers have reported that the mineral content in the natural clay of Gowa Regency is quartz, kaolinite, hematite (Side and Putri 2022). Thus, based on the mineral constituent compounds, the Gowa district natural clay sample has a fairly high alumina silica content.…”

Microstructure Investigations of Natural Clay From Pattallassang District, Takalar Regency, South Sulawesi Province, Indonesia

“…The properties of natural clay are one of the crucial factors that must be researched before using clay in this application. Clay's expanding properties are substantially influenced by the mineralogy of its component parts and its microstructure (Side & Putri, 2022).…”

“…As for the mineral content further investigated, it was found that some of the main minerals in the natural clay of Gowa Regency were quartz (SiO2), kaolinite (Al2O3•2SiO2•2H2O), and hematite (Fe2O3.H2O). In addition, it also contains several minor minerals, namely goethite (FeOOH), magnetite (Fe3O4), and anatase (TiO2) (Side & Putri, 2022). Thus, the chemical and physical properties of natural clay are highly dependent on the region and geology of origin.…”