# US 11,992,822 B2 · Thermally activated bleaching clay product for oil bleaching > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 11,992,822 B2 - Document ID: US11992822B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 17/379,383 - Filed: 2021-07-19 - Published: 2023-01-26 - Granted: 2024-05-28 - Earliest claimed: 2021-07-19 - Assignees: Active Minerals International, LLC - Applicants: Active Minerals International, LLC - Inventors: Bo Wang; Scott Kevin Palm; Dennis Parker - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11992822B2 ## CPC - B01J 20/12: Naturally occurring clays or bleaching earth - A23D 9/04: Working-up - A23L 5/40: Colouring or decolouring of foods - A23L 5/49: Removing colour by chemical reaction, e.g. bleaching - B01J 20/28016: {Particle form} - B01J 20/28059: {being less than 100 m2/g} - B01J 20/28061: {being in the range 100-500 m2/g} - B01J 20/3028: {Granulating, agglomerating or aggregating} - B01J 20/3078: {Thermal treatment, e.g. calcining or pyrolizing} - C11B 3/10: by adsorption - A23V 2002/00: Food compositions, function of food ingredients or processes for food or foodstuffs - B01J: CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROCESSES, e.g. CATALYSIS OR COLLOID CHEMISTRY; THEIR RELEVANT APPARATUS - A23D: EDIBLE OILS OR FATS, e.g. MARGARINES, SHORTENINGS OR COOKING OILS (preservation thereof A23B20/00; production, refinement or preservation of animal or vegetable fats or oils C11B, C11C) - A23L: FOODS, FOODSTUFFS OR NON-ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; PREPARATION OR TREATMENT THEREOF (preservation thereof A23B) - C11B: PRODUCING, e.g. BY PRESSING RAW MATERIALS OR BY EXTRACTION FROM WASTE MATERIALS, REFINING OR PRESERVING FATS, FATTY SUBSTANCES, e.g. LANOLIN, FATTY OILS OR WAXES; ESSENTIAL OILS; PERFUMES (drying-oils C09F) - A23V: INDEXING SCHEME RELATING TO FOODS, FOODSTUFFS OR NON-ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES AND LACTIC OR PROPIONIC ACID BACTERIA USED IN FOODSTUFFS OR FOOD PREPARATION ## Abstract A bleaching clay product, a method of producing and a method of decolorizing an oil are disclosed. The bleaching clay product comprises attapulgite that has been thermally activated. The bleaching clay product may have a permeability in oil in the range of 0.04-3 darcy and may have a surface area of 45-140 m2/g. The method of producing such bleaching clay product may comprise thermally activating a material that includes attapulgite by heating the material at a temperature in the range of 300 to 900° C. The method of decolorizing may include contacting for a contact time an oil with the bleaching clay product that comprises attapulgite that has been thermally activated, and separating the bleaching clay product from the oil to recover a decolorized oil that has a lower red color than the oil had prior to the contacting. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A bleaching clay product comprising: attapulgite, wherein the attapulgite has been thermally activated, wherein the bleaching clay product has a permeability in oil in the range of 0.04-3 darcy, wherein the bleaching clay product has a surface area of 45-140 m2/g or 80-140 m2/g. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The bleaching clay product of claim 1, wherein further the attapulgite has a permeability in the range of 0.04-0.07 darcy or 1-3 darcy or 1.5-3 darcy. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The bleaching clay product of claim 1, wherein the attapulgite is free of acid activation. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The bleaching clay product of claim 1, wherein the bleaching clay product has a bleaching efficiency for Lovibond red of 50%-99% at 1-3 wt. % bleaching clay product to oil and a contact time of 1-30 minutes for bleaching. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The bleaching clay product of claim 1, wherein the attapulgite is agglomerated prior to thermal activation. ### Claim 6 (depends on 5) The bleaching clay product of claim 5, wherein the bleaching clay product has a permeability of 2-3 darcy, a bleaching efficiency for Lovibond red of 76-99%, a porosity of 76-85% and a pore volume of 1-2 mL/g. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The bleaching clay product of claim 1, wherein the bleaching clay product has no more than 4 ppm soluble lead as measured by the FCC, and has no more than 1 ppm arsenic as measured by FCC. ### Claim 8 A method of producing a bleaching clay product, the method comprising: thermally activating a material that includes attapulgite by heating the material at a temperature to produce a bleaching clay product, the temperature in the range of 300 to 900° ° C., wherein the bleaching clay product has a permeability in oil in the range of 0.04-3 darcy, wherein the bleaching clay product has a surface area of 45-140 m2/g or 80-140 m2/g. ### Claim 9 (depends on 8) The method of claim 8, wherein the bleaching clay product has no more than 4 ppm soluble lead as measured by the Food Chemical Codex (FCC) and no more than 1 ppm arsenic as measured by the FCC. ### Claim 10 (depends on 8) The method of claim 8, wherein attapulgite is agglomerated prior to thermally activating. ### Claim 11 (depends on 8) The method of claim 8, wherein the temperature is in the range of 400-850° C. ### Claim 12 (depends on 8) A method of claim 8, wherein the bleaching clay product has a bleaching efficiency for Lovibond red of 50% to 99% at 1-3 wt. % bleaching clay product to oil and a contact time of 4-8 minutes for bleaching. ### Claim 13 A method for decolorizing an oil, the method comprising: contacting for a contact time an oil with a bleaching clay product comprising attapulgite, the contact time in the range 4-8 minutes, wherein the attapulgite has been thermally activated; and separating the bleaching clay product from the oil to recover a decolorized oil that has a lower red color than the oil had prior to the contacting, wherein the bleaching clay product has a permeability in oil in the range of 0.04-3 darcy, wherein the bleaching clay product has a surface area of 45-140 m2/g or 80-140 m2g. ### Claim 14 (depends on 13) The method of claim 13, wherein the oil is edible oil. ### Claim 15 (depends on 13) The method of claim 13, wherein the oil and slurry are combined into a slurry, the slurry 1-5 wt. % bleaching clay product to oil. ### Claim 16 (depends on 15) The method of claim 15, wherein the red color is a Lovibond red and the bleaching clay product has a bleaching efficiency of 50% to 99% for the Lovibond red. ### Claim 17 (depends on 13) The method of claim 13, wherein the attapulgite has been agglomerated prior to thermal activation. ### Claim 18 (depends on 13) The method of claim 13, wherein the attapulgite that has been thermally activated has a porosity of 79-85% and/or a pore volume of 1-2 mL/g. ### Claim 19 (depends on 13) The method of claim 13, wherein the bleaching clay product has a permeability in oil in the range of 0.04-0.07 darcy or 1.5-3 darcy or 2-3 darcy. ### Claim 20 (depends on 13) The method of claim 13, wherein the bleaching clay product has no more than 4 ppm soluble lead or no more than 3.8 ppm soluble lead, as measured by the FCC, and/or has no more than 1 ppm soluble arsenic or no more than 0.8 ppm soluble arsenic as measured by the FCC. ### Claim 21 (depends on 1) The bleaching clay product of claim 1, wherein the bleaching clay product has intrinsic pores in the range of 17-30 nm and/or inter pores in the range of 2-32 microns.