Producing silica sand involves several steps to extract and purify the silica from the raw materials. Here is a concise guide outlining the typical steps involved:
Mining: Silica sand is typically extracted from open pit mines. The silica-containing materials (often quartz) are mined in large quantities.
Crushing: The raw silica sand is subjected to crushing to break down the larger pieces into smaller fragments, preparing it for further processing.
Washing: The crushed silica sand is washed with water to remove impurities, such as clay, silt, or other contaminants that might affect the quality.
Screening: Through a series of screens, the washed silica sand is sorted by size. Any oversized particles are further processed or removed.
Attrition Scrubbing: This step involves mechanically tumbling the sand grains against each other to further eliminate impurities adhering to the surface of the silica particles.
Magnetic Separation: Depending on the quality of the raw material, magnetic separation may be used to remove iron contaminants from the sand.
Drying: The cleaned silica sand is dried in large rotating drum dryers to remove any remaining moisture, ensuring the final product meets specific moisture content requirements.
These seven steps together ensure that the final silica sand product is pure and of the desired grain size for its intended purposes.
