Clay - organic interactions

Clay minerals have wide ranging use as adsorbents, for instance in cat litter, and in purifying ("bleaching") various products such as food grade oils and crude polymer mixtures. Understanding what is removed in such purification processes can help optimise these processes and reduce waste.
These experiments aim to determine which compounds are removed, along with the mechanism by which they are removed. This will assist development of a strategy to optimise the purification process.
In order to achieve this, the project seeks to develop novel analytical chemistry and associated data analysis methods (in particular based on mass spectrometry) to understand the composition of crude and purified materials and to elucidate the chemical mechanisms underpinning the purification process. Other methods (such as surface area measurements, spectroscopy and microscopy) will be used to characterise the adsorbents used. Methods to understand the interaction between adsorbent and particular food oil contaminants will also be developed.
The relevant EPSRC research areas are likely: 'analytical science', 'polymer materials' and 'surface science'.