• 21 Mar, 2022
• By EPIC Powder
• 2 Comments

Pickling Effect of Quartz Sand Origins

Quartz is widely distributed in China. Does the origin of quartz sand affect pickling? Experimental data of the pickling of quartz sand from different origins has been collected after repeated experiments, which is instructive for the pickling process.
 
China is rich in quartz mineral resources, including quartzite, quartz sandstone, natural quartz sand, and vein quartz. They are mainly distributed in Guangdong Province, Guangxi Province, Hainan Province, Fujian Province, Yunnan Province, Sichuan Province, Heilongjiang Province in China.   
 
It is necessary to purify the quartz sand from raw ore mining for its wide range of applications. Purification requirements and methods are different, dependent on its applications. Normally there are physical purification and chemical purification. Water washing, gravity separation, magnetic separation, and flotation are commonly used for physical purification; pickling is commonly used for chemical purification.
 
Pickling aims to eliminate some impurity minerals that are insoluble in water but soluble in acid. It is the most common used and effective method to remove the oxide skin of quartz sand. Quartz sand is a non-metallic mineral and insoluble in acid (except HF acid). Actually, the pickling process is mainly to make the oxide skin react with the acid washing solution to generate water-soluble compounds, so as to remove the oxide skin from the surface of quartz sand.
 
The diversity of geological structure leads to regional differences of the same mineral. In other words, even for quartz sand of the same mineral, if its origin is different, its composition will also be different. Therefore, does the origin of quartz sand affect quartz pickling?
 
Differences in the composition of quartz sand have a great influence on quartz pickling under the same conditions (including: the same pickling agent, the same concentration, the same temperature, and the same time) in pickling process.
 
From different origins, the compactness, thickness, and position of the oxide skin of quartz sand as well as impurities contained are different, and its acid susceptibility is different accordingly. For example, it is easier to remove the thin and loose oxide skin than to remove the thick and dense one, also it is easier to remove the oxide skin on the surface than that in the middle of quartz sand. The more impurities in quartz sand, the more effective substances in acid are needed to effectively remove impurities. Therefore, under the same conditions and with the same picking agent, the pickling performance on quartz sand of different origins will be different.
 
In addition, from different quart sand origins, the impurity content in quartz sand is different, which also has a great influence on the acid susceptibility. One same pickling agent performs well on the quartz sand from one origin, but may perform badly on that from another origin, or even have no effect at all.
 
Guangzhou quartz chemical team has provided pickling technical services and guidance for quartz sand manufacturers for many years, and has rich experience in pickling experiment and process. Previous experience shows that the pickling difficulty of quartz sand from different origins is as below, from difficult to easy:
 
Hainan Ore＞ Guangxi Ore＞ Guizhou Ore＞ Guangdong Ore＞ Hubei Ore
 
The best method is to select different pickling agents for the quartz sand from different origins to achieve the expected pickling effect in practical process. Before the determination of the quartz sand supplier, it is good to perform a small pickling test on the quartz sand sample supplied by the quartz sand manufacturer, and then choose a proper quartz sand supplier according to the test results, and select a suitable pickling agent for mass production.
 
Meanwhile, Guangzhou Quartz Chemical Industry reminds pickling counterparts to modify the formulation of pickling agent in time when dealing with quartz sand from different origins, and one same pickling formulation can not be applicable to all quartz sand ores.