Silica sand, also known as quartz sand, is made up of silicon dioxide. It is used in many industrial applications due to its high melting point and purity. Some key uses of silica sand include metal casting, ceramics and refractories production, construction materials, and oil and gas recovery. Silica sand mining is regulated to reduce environmental impacts and illegal mining. Singapore imports large amounts of silica sand for its land reclamation projects.

1. Silica
Sand
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2. What Is Silica Sand? • Silica sand, also known as quartz sand,
white sand, or industrial sand, is made up
of two main elements: silica and oxygen.
Specifically, silica sand is made up of
silicon dioxide (SiO2).
• Regular sand, also known as feldspathic
sand, brown sand, or construction sand, will
always contain some silica, but only in
amounts less than 95%.
• These ‘impurities’ make regular sand more
chemically reactive and often darker in
colour when compared to silica sand. The
color for non-silica sands (regular sands)
can be various shades white, pink, green,
and black as well – depending on the
geological makeup and geographic
location of the sand deposit.

7. Metal Casting: Industrial sand is an
essential part of the ferrous and non-
ferrous foundry industry. Metal parts
ranging from engine blocks to sink faucets
are cast in a sand and clay mold to
produce the external shape, with a resin
bonded core creating the desired internal
shape. Silica’s high fusion point (1760°C)
and low rate of thermal expansion
produce stable cores and molds
compatible with all pouring temperatures
and alloy systems. Its chemical purity also
helps prevent interaction with catalysts or
curing rate of chemical binders. Following
the casting process, core sand can be
thermally or mechanically recycled to
produce new cores or molds.

8. Ceramics & Refractories: Ground silica is an
essential component of the glaze and body
formulations of all types of ceramic products,
including tableware, sanitary ware, and floor
and wall tile. In the ceramic body, silica is the
skeletal structure upon which clays and flux
components attach. The SiO2 contribution is
used to modify thermal expansion, regulate
drying and shrinkage, and improve structural
integrity and appearance. Silica products are
also used as the primary aggregate in both
shape and monolithic type refractories to
provide high temperature resistance to acidic
attack in industrial furnaces.

9. Quartz sands and finely ground silica sand are
used for sand blasting, scouring cleansers,
grinding media, and grit for sanding and sawing.

10. Construction: Industrial sand is the primary structural
component in a wide variety of building and construction
products. Whole grain silica is put to use in flooring
compounds, mortars, specialty cements, stucco, roofing
shingles, skid resistant surfaces, and asphalt mixtures to
provide packing density and flexural strength without
adversely affecting the chemical properties of the binding
system. Ground silica performs as a functional extender to add
durability and anti-corrosion and weathering properties in
epoxy-based compounds, sealants, and caulks.

11. Oil and Gas Recovery: Known commonly as
proppant, or “frac sand,” industrial sand is
pumped down holes in deep well applications to
prop open rock fissures and increase the flow rate
of natural gas or oil. In this specialized application,
round, whole grain deposits are used to maximize
permeability and prevent formation cuttings from
entering the well bore. Silica’s hardness and its
overall structural integrity combine to deliver the
required crush resistance of the high pressures
present in wells up to 2,450 metres deep. Its
chemical purity is required to resist chemical
attack in corrosive environments.

12. There are several main uses of
silica sand as given below:
Metal Casting
For Glassmaking
Metal Production
Paint and Coating
Construction
Oil and Gas Recovery
Filtration and Water Production

14. Silica Sand Mining projects

15. Key in the real estate construction industry -silica
sand screening machine

16. New technology silica sand processing
equipment

17. Screw Sand Washing Machine for
Silica Sand, River
Spiral sand washing machine is
designed to provide bigger capacity
and higher cleaning level than
traditional one. It is also called
“stone washing machine” as its input
material size is at most 30mm. Now
it is widely used for cleaning
materials in quarry, minerals,
building materials, transportation,
chemical industry, water
conservancy and hydropower,
cement mixture station and so on.

18. Sand Processing

19. Silica Sand Beneficiation Plant
Capacity:95 tons per hour
Silica sand beneficiation plant equipment is used to
remove the raw material of iron and other magnetic
materials, commonly used in ceramics, mining, chemical,
milling and other industries. For example, in the mining
industry, the first use of raw materials are generally
medium-sized magnetic separator roughing, roughing
after the raw material iron content is reduced to a certain
extent, it can be used for some of the iron content of less
demanding industries. In the iron content of the
requirements of the occasion, you need to use the raw
crude iron machine after the election will be featured in
addition to iron, iron or even several times in order to
meet the requirements. Can also be understood as a
small addition to iron magnetic separator, usually in raw
material handling capacity is not the case, the device is
the use of iron.

20. Sand Mining Regulations
• The prospecting mining operation should be under licence or lease
• The supreme court of India ruled that approval under the 2006
environment impact assessment (EIA) notification is needed for all the
sand miners collection activity, even if the area being is less than 5
hectares.
• There is a need for seeking permission from State Government for the
operative mechanism of section 4(A)(1) of MMDRA, 1957.
• According to a report on ABC Foreign Correspondents, India sand business
employs over 35 million people and is valued at well over $126 billion per
annum. The supply problem could partially be attributed to the
environmental limitations imposed to protect ecosystem or due to the
existence of illegal means to create a supply chain.

21. There are various laws in the country to regulate illegal sand mining.

22. PERMITS

23. Singapore is the biggest importer
Singapore is the world’s largest importer of sand, owing to its
land reclamation activities which have seen the city-state’s land
area increase by 20% in 40 years. Singapore had traditionally
used sand from neighboring states, before using up the resource
and turning to importing from Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia and
other Southeast Asian countries. Export of Indonesian sand to
expand the land area of Singapore has put at least 80 of
Indonesia’s 17,508 islands at risk of disappearance due to sand
extraction . Owing to the economic and environmental burden
Singapore’s sand imports placed on these countries, nations
including Cambodia, Malaysia and Vietnam have since moved to
ban exports to Singapore entirely.

24. DatabaseS offer
https://www.primaryinfo.com/technology/fracsand.htm
Technology
Applications,
Company Profiles,
Suppliers, Markets

25. Useful Links
http://www.primaryinfo.com/scope/silica-gel-granular.htm
http://www.primaryinfo.com/projects/silica-recovery.htm
https://www.primaryinfo.com/technology/silica-gel-pharma-grade.htm
https://www.primaryinfo.com/projects/sodium-silicate.htm
http://www.primaryinfo.com/market/sodium-silicate-market.htm
https://www.primaryinfo.com/market/precipitated-silica-market.html
https://www.primaryinfo.com/feldspar.htm

26. Questions?