Study of the status of iron in clay materials from Côte d’Ivoire for their use as phosphate adsorbents

Abstract

The mineralogical, textural and physicochemical characteristics of five clay samples from various regions of Côte d'Ivoire were studied by different methods. The characterization by X-ray diffraction revealed that a mineralogical composition of the samples are different. The minerals identified are chlorite, kaolinite, smectites, illite, quartz, goethite and rutile. Electron paramagnetic resonance and Mössbauer spectroscopy revealed the presence of structural iron, iron oxides and oxyhydroxides in the clay samples. The iron is mainly present at trivalent status in octahedral position. These samples are richer in fine particles. They develop relatively important specific surface area and have poor cristallinity.