Physical And Chemical Analysis Of Some Nigerian Gypsum Minerals For Application In Manufacturing Construction And Allied Industries.

ABSTRACT The present work investigates the physical and chemical characteristics of some local gypsum minerals and to develop an appropriate process technology for their exploitation refining and utilization in Nigeria. Though a number of gypsum deposits have been found in Nigeria three varieties were studied in this work. The gypsum samples from lgbokotor and lbeshe villages in ogun state were observed via a manual pitting method while the third variety was procured from Potiskum in Borno state. The raw gypsum were beneficiated to remove obvious physical impurities and air-dried. In this experiment the raw gypsum were analysed to determine their chemical constituents using the conventional wet silicate technique. The six major significant constituents Carbon Dioxide CO2 Calcium Oxide CaO Magnesium Oxide MgO Sulphur Trioxide SO3 Ferrous Oxide Fe203 and combined matter Loss-on-ignition were determined. Using an electrical Kiln with digital control a calcinations sequence of 160c - 30c temperature range against 60minutes - 300minutes time was used during the heat treatment procedure. The results of the experiment showed that the optimum water - plaster ratio was 32 while the setting or hardening time was between 3.0- 8.0 minutes. Other physical properties such as the density colour particle size were found to be in agreement with literature. Consequent upon the investigation reported here an adaptive refining process technology for Nigerian Gypsum mineral has been developed and the process development and description are presented.