How To Make Silica Sand

Silica sand production is a major trend in the mining industry. Many customers want to know the entire process of quartz sand production. This article lists the production process of silica sand in detail for everyone.

1. Beneficiation

Beneficiation is the sorting and sorting of ore, followed by water washing, grading desliming, scrubbing, and acid leaching.

Water eluting mud: The grade of SiO2 in silica sand decreases with the finer grain size of quartz sand, while the grade of impurity minerals is the opposite. This phenomenon is particularly obvious in silica sand containing a large number of clay minerals, so it is very necessary to wash and desludging the raw quartz sand before being selected.

Scrubbing: Relying on the mechanical force and the grinding and peeling force between the sand particles to remove the thin film iron and muddy impurity minerals on the surface of the silica sand, to further smash the unconsolidated mineral aggregates, and then to achieve the effect of further purification of the quartz sand through the classification operation. At present, there are mainly two methods: rod scrubbing and mechanical scrubbing.

Acid leaching: Dilute acid has a significant effect on the removal of iron and aluminum, while the removal of titanium and chromium uses concentrated sulfuric acid and aqua regia for acid leaching. Usually, a mixed acid composed of the above-mentioned acids is used for acid leaching and removal of impurity minerals. The various factors of acid leaching should be controlled according to the requirements of the final grade of silica, and the concentration, temperature, and dosage of the acid should be reduced as much as possible to achieve the purification of quartz at a lower cost of beneficiation.

2. Ore Washing

Ore cleaning is based on the absence of obvious impurities by naked eye observation. Ore washing is a process of scrubbing the ore cemented by clay or containing more mud by hydraulic or mechanical force so that the ore is broken up, and the fine mud on the surface of the ore is washed off and separated. Commonly used ore washing equipment includes cylinder scrubbing machine, hydraulic ore washing sieve, trough type ore washing machine, vibrating ore washing sieve belt sieve scrubbing machine, and so on. Also, many screening equipment (such as fixed screens, roller screens, etc.) and spiral classifiers can be used as ore washing equipment.

3. Calcination

Set the furnace temperature to 860 degrees Celsius, but the silica sand into the furnace, and discharge the material based on the redness of the stones.

4. Water Quenching

Use cooling water to quench the silica sandstone to achieve a loose structure.

5. Crush

It is crushed by a jaw crusher and then crushed by a roller mill.

6. Screening

The crushed silica sand needs to be classified by mesh number and is often screened by a vibrating screen.

7. Cleaning

The sieved silica sand needs to be cleaned many times. Generally, the cleaning equipment is a sand washing machine. Commonly used are wheel sand washing machines, spiral sand washing machines, and drum sand washing machines.

8. Drain

The cleaned silica sand needs to be dewatered by a centrifuge.

9. Dryer

The dehydrated silica sand needs to enter the oven for drying treatment.

10. Magnetic separation

Then enter the magnetic separator again to remove iron impurities.

11. Flotation

Then, enter the flotation machine again for selection and select the appropriate silica sand.

12. Check

Finally, after manual inspection, the silica sand is packaged and put into storage.

The process of manufacturing silica sand requires strict operational control and high-quality raw materials to ensure the quality and output of the final product. In addition, the production of silica sand may generate pollutants such as exhaust gas, wastewater, and waste residue, which need to be properly treated and disposed of to meet environmental requirements.