Beneficiation of Faya Clay for Drilling Mud Production Using Froth Floatation and Jig Gravity Concentration Techniques

The comparative study for upgrading Faya clay, in Faya Town of Plateau State, Nigeria to oil and Gas drilling mud grade was carried out. The clay was sourced from three veins A, B, and C.  The samples were homogenized, crushed and ground. 5 kg of the homogenized sample was used for the experiment and laboratory work. Chemical and mineralogical characterization of the clay sample was carried out using; X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and X-ray diffractorneter (XRD). The clay sample was beneficiated using two methods: froth flotation and gravity concentration method (Jigging). The chemical composition of the crude clay revealed that it contains 16.6% Al2O3, 35.6% SiO2, 0.559% K2O, 0.084% CaO, 6.133% Fe2O3, 0.91 % TiO2 and 38.7 % BaO. The result of XRD analysis shows that quartz is predominant in the sample with 61.7% wt quartz (SiO2). Other minerals found in the sample include 28.59% wt of dickite (Al2 Si205 (0H)), 8.89% wt goethite (Fe0 (0H 4) and 0.83% wt muscovite (KO.92 NaO.08) (Al.86 FeO.07 TiO.02) (Si.3 O.3 AlO.97) O10 (OH)2 at 2 . Froth flotation method is more efficient for the beneficiation of Faya clay as it improves the BaO composition of the clay from 38.7% to 52.2%, with a recovery of 97.2%, an enrichment and ratio of concentration of 1.4 compared with the jigging method, which improved BaO composition from 38.7% in the crude clay to 47.5%, with a recovery of 90.96% and an enrichment ratio of 0.7; and ratio of concentration of 0.7. Froth floatation improved the specific gravity of the clay from 3.3 to 4.31; while jigging improved the specific gravity from 3.3 to 4. 05. Therefore, froth flotation method is more appropriate for the concentration of Faya clay ahead of jigging method of processing.Keywords: Upgrading, Characterization, Faya - clay, Drilling, Production