Improvement of the Extraction Efficiency of Nanosized Alumina from Libyan Clay

This contribution aims to extract alumina (Al 2 O 3 ) with nanoscale grains in a doubly valuable (profitable) manner, i.e. extraction of valuable alumina from cheap clays widespread in southern Libya using a simple chemical technique. Four clay samples selected from southern Libya were processed and investigated using XRD and XRF techniques. Alumina was extracted from the processed clay samples using KHSO 4 as a fluxing agent. The extracted alumina samples were investigated by means of XRD, XRF as well as of SEM attached with EDX unit. Nanoparticles of alumina ( 99.5 %) could be obtained from different clay samples. The optimum efficiency of alumina extraction is reached using Sebha clay and KHSO 4 in a molar ratio of 1:7 at a temperature of 500°C for a time period of 3 h. The quality (purity, grain size and efficiency) of the extracted alumina competes with the standard laboratory alumina compound (Alcoa) extracted from a usual bauxite source.