Silicon Mineral Processing
Silicon, also known as silicon, is a chemical element bearing the symbol Si and atomic number 14. It is abundant in various forms in nature, especially in the silicate minerals, which together account for more than 90 percent of the Earth’s crust. Silica minerals, or silicates, have a wide variety of chemistries, including the traditional orthosilicates, true phyllosilicates and a group including ring silicates, such as the garnets and tourmalines.
Silicon ore extraction process is divided into ore extraction, ore dressing and smelting. Ore extraction is divided into open-pit mining and underground mining. Ore dressing is a process of ore crushing and separation by size or chemical treatment. Smelting is a chemical process using heat to reduce the ore to its purest form.
Silicon ore extraction process:
The first step in silicon ore extraction is to quarrize the ore layer from the earth. The ore is then crushed and screened to the desired size. The ore is then washed and ground to separate the impurities.
The ore is then passed through several processes to reduce the large pieces of rock to small particles. This may involve a combination of crushing and grinding to break down the ore into smaller pieces. The ore is then dried and coarsened to remove moisture and create particles of a uniform size. These particles are then passed over a vibrating screen to separate them according to size.
The ore is then passed through a magnetic separator to remove magnetic impurities. This step is important to remove any magnetic impurities that can interfere with the smelting process.
The final step of the silicon ore extraction process is to smelt the ore. This is done by heating the ore to its melting point in a furnace. The molten silicon is then poured into molds or forms and cooled to create the desired shape.
Silicon minerals processing
Silicon minerals processing is a process of ore crushing and separation by size or chemical treatment to obtain a new silicon product from the ore. It is generally separated by magnetic separation, gravity separation, screening and flotation.
In the mineral processing process, the ore is first crushed of appropriate sizes and then is subjected to various separation processes, such as magnetic separation and gravity separation. The ore is treated by flotation in weak acid or alkaline solutions depending on the nature of the ore and the gangue (rock) particles.
The ore is crushed to a size suitable for grinding. Then, it is mixed with water to form a slurry. The slurry is then subjected to mechanical separation processes such as magnetic separation, gravity separation, and screening.
In the magnetic separation process, magnets are used to separate magnetic particles from the non-magnetic ones. This helps in removing the magnetic oxides and minerals from the ore. It is also used for the upgrading of low grade ores.
In the gravity separation process, the ore is subjected to a gravitational force in a heavy-medium separator. This helps in the separation of different compounds according to their particle size and specific gravity.
Finally, the ore is subjected to flotation to remove dust and gangue particles from the ore. In the flotation process, a solution of water and a suitable chemical reagent such as sodium hydroxide (NaOH) is used to make the ore particles buoyant, thus allowing them to float and be separated from the unwanted material.
The silicon product obtained after crushing, separation, and separation processes needs to be processed further in order to make it ready for use. This may involve electrolysis, hydrolysis, oxidation, and other additional treatments to convert the raw material into the desired form.
