Remediation of Some Heavy Metals, Radionuclides and Bacterial Load of Medically  Acclaimed Edible Kaolin : doi.org/10.26538/tjnpr/v2i5.3

Israel K. Omoniyi; David  E. Paul; Raymond T. Iorhemen

Authors

Israel K. Omoniyi Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Physical Sciences, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria.
David E. Paul Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Physical Sciences, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria.
Raymond T. Iorhemen Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Physical Sciences, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria

Keywords:

Edible Kaolin,, Extractant,, Kankara,, Contaminants,, Geophagy.

Abstract

The earliest recorded mention of clay consumption for healing remedy originated approximately 5,000 years ago. But edible clays have been implicated to contain microbial and metallic contaminants despite the inherent medical benefits. This work reports the remediation of some heavy metals, radionuclides and bacterial load from edible kaolin from Kankara, Nigeria. The remediation increased the pH of the samples except when HCl was used; though the colour and taste remained unaltered. The best extractant for arsenic in the kaolin sample was 0.1M HCl with efficiency of 19%, H2O with efficiencies of 98% and 75% was best for removal of Cr and Pb respectively. The extraction resulted to significant reduction of the concentrations of Cr and Pb in the clay(P < 0.05).The remediation of 232Th and 238U was best by using surfactant solution (Sodium dodecyl sulphate, SDS)with efficiencies of 46% and 35% respectively;while 0.1M CaCl2 with 17% efficiency was the best for228Ra removal. All the clay samples were contaminated with bacteria. Therefore, soil washing technique can be employed to reduce contaminants in edible clay while maintaining the inherent medical benefits of geophagy.

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