Purification of high purity quartz sand

As an important strategic resource, high-purity quartz sand is an important raw material in the fields of optical fiber communication, microelectronics, and solar energy. Quartz ore has many impurities and generally coexists with various impurities. Among them, iron tails are common impurity minerals. Iron purification of quartz sand is the key. The following editor will sort out the production process of high-purity quartz sand for iron removal!

At present, the common quartz sand iron removal production processes mainly include: mechanical scrubbing iron removal, magnetic separation iron removal, flotation iron removal, acid leaching iron removal, ultrasonic iron removal and microbial iron removal.

1. Mechanical scrubbing of quartz sand to remove iron

The mechanical scrubbing method of quartz sand is accomplished by means of external mechanical force and the collision and friction between mineral particles to remove the thin film iron on the surface of quartz sand and the iron-containing impurities adhering to its surface. There are two types of mechanical scrubbing methods: rod scrubbing and mechanical scrubbing. As for which one to choose, it depends on the nature of the quartz sand ore.

2. Magnetic separation of quartz sand to remove iron

There are two types of iron removal by magnetic separation of quartz sand: dry iron removal and wet iron removal. Among them, wet magnetic separation mainly adopts wet strong magnetic separator, which can remove hematite, brown Weak magnetic impurity minerals such as iron ore and biotite; using a weak magnetic separator to separate strong magnetic minerals mainly magnetite, but this method of iron removal consumes a lot of power, the medium is easy to wear, the production water consumption is large and maintenance The difficulty is higher.

Dry magnetic separation iron removal often uses dry magnetic separator to complete the iron removal operation, the process is convenient to operate, and the operation and maintenance costs are lower than those of wet type.

3. Quartz sand flotation iron removal process

There are three types of iron removal by quartz sand flotation, which are fluorine-acid method, fluorine-free acid method and fluorine-free acid method.

Among them, the fluorine and acid method is widely used because of its good flotation effect, easy control and stable indicators. However, fluoride ions have a great erosion effect on the land and damage to the surrounding ecological environment; the advantage of the fluorine-free acid method is to avoid the use of fluoride ions that are destructive to the environment, and the production index is stable, but strong acid has a corrosive effect on the mineral processing equipment. It cannot be ignored; while the fluorine-free and acid-free method creates a high-concentration pulp flotation environment through the reasonable deployment of anion and cation collectors under natural pH conditions, and achieves the purpose of preferentially flotation impurity minerals.

4. Quartz sand acid leaching to remove iron

The acid leaching iron removal method utilizes the property that quartz sand is insoluble in acid (except HF), while iron-containing impurities are easily dissolved by acid, so that good quartz sand concentrate can be obtained. Generally, the commonly used acids for pickling quartz sand are sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid, nitric acid and hydrofluoric acid.

5. Quartz sand ultrasonic iron removal

Ultrasonic iron removal method is to use ultrasonic technology to remove the secondary thin film iron on the surface of quartz particles. Generally, after ultrasonic treatment for about 10 minutes, the iron removal rate can reach 46% to 70%. When applying ultrasonic iron removal, it is necessary to remove waste liquid in time to prevent The secondary adhesion reduces the iron removal effect. Ultrasonic iron removal is relatively expensive for silica sand, a cheap resource, and it is still difficult to apply it in large-scale concentrators, but it is possible to use it in those production fields that require high purity and low consumption.

6. Quartz sand microbial iron removal

Microbial iron removal method is to use microorganisms to leach thin film iron or impregnated iron on the surface of quartz sand particles to obtain good quartz sand concentrate. This process is a new technology and is still in the experimental stage. For some research surfaces, microorganisms such as Aspergillus niger, Penicillium, Pyriformis, Pseudomonas, Bacillus, Bacillus polymyxa, Lactococcus and other microorganisms can be used to leach iron oxide on the quartz surface.

The above are several common high-purity quartz sand iron removal production processes. In the actual concentrator, you can’t choose blindly. It should be determined according to the impurity components contained in the quartz sand. Therefore, the editor recommends that the beneficiation test be carried out first, and through experimental analysis, Design and customize a suitable quartz sand production process plan.