Silica Sand Washing Plant | Quartz Sand Processing

Silica sand washing plant mainly includes: quartz stone crushing and sand making, washing, grading, desliming, scrubbing, magnetic separation, flotation, acid leaching and other processes to remove the small amount or micro amount of impurities in silica sand and obtain refined silica sand or high-purity silica sand for glass, ceramics, construction, chemical and other industries.

Silica Sand Manufacturing & Washing Process

(i) Crushing & Silica Sand making

Quartz stones are first sent to jaw crusher for coarse crushing, then to the cone crusher for medium and fine crushing after reasonable screening by the circular vibrating screen, and the unqualified materials will be returned to the cone crusher for re crushing after the same screening. The quartz stones that meet the requirements of sand making are driven by the conveyor into the sand making machine for sand making and shaping to obtain 0-5mm silica sand.

(ii) Washing, Grading & Desliming

There are a lot of clay minerals in quartz stone materials, so it is necessary to wash and desliming silica sand.

[Application Scope of Washing]: it is suitable for minerals that can be simple washed to remove clay. Generally, the silica sand size is 0.075-1.0mm, while the grain size of clay mineral < 50 μm, generally less than 20 μm.

[Washing]: Different sand washing equipments can be used for cleaning, such as washing chute, hydrocyclone, upflow hydraulic classifier, etc. At present, the upflow hydraulic classifier is mostly used, fine minerals are discharged from the top overflow outlet in the form of mud, while coarse and heavy particles are discharged from the bottom.

[Screening]: The coarse sand can be removed by a 0.5-1.0mm wet screen, so that silica sand and clay minerals can be separated from each other in the water medium.

(iii) Scrubbing

Scrubbing refers to the removal of the film iron, binding and argillaceous impurity minerals on the surface of silica sand by mechanical force and the abrasive force between the sand particles, and the further grinding of the mineral aggregates which are not assembled. The after classification operation, the silica sand will be further purified.

At present, there are mainly mechanical scrubbing, rod scrubbing, high-efficiency strong scrubbing with medicine and ultrasonic scrubbing. The mechanical scrubbing equipment is rotary scrubber, which has strong scrubbing capacity: 200-250T/H.

(iv) Magnetic Separation

Magnetic separation is mainly used to remove the magnetic minerals in silica sand. For example, hematite, limonite, biotite and other weak magnetic minerals can be removed through the strong magnetic separator, while the strong magnetic minerals such as magnetite, titanomagnetite and pyrrhotite can be removed through the weak magnetic separator.

(v) Flotation

The composition of silica sand is complex, except for the iron bearing minerals, there are often mica, feldspar and clay minerals. Some impurities in silica sand, such as feldspar and mica, which cannot be removed by magnetic separation, but can be separated by different collectors. In general, the purity of silica sand can be increased to 99% after scrubbing, desliming, magnetic separation and flotation.

(vi) Acid leaching

The removal of iron from silica sand by acid leaching is based on the fact that silica sand is insoluble in acid (except HF), and the impurity minerals containing Fe can be dissolved by acid solution, so the iron minerals can be removed from silica sand.

After flotation, the purity of silica sand can reach 99.5-99.9%. If the silica sand is further purified, the impurities in the form of spots and inclusions on the surface of silica particles must be treated by acid leaching. According to the requirements of different industrial uses for different impurity minerals (Fe, Al, Ti, Cr) of silica sand, the mixed acid leaching treatment with different concentration and ratio is carried out.

In addition, acid leaching time, mineral particle size and slurry agitation all affect the removal efficiency. Therefore, it is necessary to control various factors reasonably to reduce the silica sand washing plant cost.

Main Equipments of Silica Sand Washing Plant

Silica sand washing plant includes Vibrating feeder, Vibrating screen, Jaw crusher, Cone crusher, Sand making machine, Belt conveyor, Magnetic separator, Rod mill, Attrition scrubber, Hydraulic classifier, Spiral classifier, Agitation tank.

Silica Sand Washing Flow Chart

Silica Sand Washing Plant Price (cost)

There will be great differences in the silica sand washing plant price supplied by different silica sand washing plant manufacturer with different configurations and different capacities. In addition, the price of the same silica sand plant manufactured by different manufacturers may also be different, because the function and cost of each equipments are different.

If you want to buy more high quality silica sand plant equipments with less investment, we suggest you consult the silica sand equipments manufacturer.

How To Choose Silica Sand Washing Plant Manufacturers

Cooperation with appropriate manufacturers can ensure long-term economic benefits. What factors should be paid attention to when choosing silica sand washing plant manufacturers?

1. Manufacturers’ Strength

The comprehensive strength of the manufacturer mainly lies in the production scale of the manufacturer, whether there is a professional R & D team and quality inspection technicians, and whether the manufacturer has sufficient funds.

2. Equipment Quality

Silica sand washing equipment with good quality is stable and reliable in actual production and operation, with high equipment operation rate and production efficiency, low failure rate and long service life.

3. Field Trip

When choosing a silica sand washing plant manufacturer, it is best to conduct field investigation on the manufacturer, investigate the scale and environment of the manufacturer’s workshop, fully understand the production process and supporting facilities of the equipment, and also test the silica sand processing equipments.

4. After sales Service

• (1) Return Visit
  The silica sand washing plant manufacturers shall follow up and visit in time to understand the operation status, production capacity of sand processing equipment and the use of vulnerable parts, and solve the problems encountered by customers in the production process.
• (2) Accessories Supply
  The silica sand washing plant manufacturers need to have a perfect after-sales parts supply system, which can provide parts and wearing parts in time and reduce the downtime and maintenance time.