WOLKITE UNIVERSITY

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY

COLLAGE OF NATURAL AND COMPUTATIONAL SCIENCE

7. Silicate Industry
Course (Code): Industrial Chemistry I (3111)
By: Yordanos Seife (MSc.)

1
Content
• Introduction to silicate industry

• Types of ceramics

• Manufacturing process of clay ceramics materials

• Properties of glass

• Manufacturing process of glass

• Classification of cement
 Introduction to silicate industry

• Common types of ceramic materials and their use in different human beings are

verified.

• The most common raw materials for silicate industry is

• The silicon proportion with other chemical in different silicate industry products.

• In chemistry, a silicate is any member of a family of anions consisting of silicon

and oxygen.
 Cont.….
• The general formula [] n, where 0 ≤ x < 2.

• Ortho-silicate, (x = 0, n = 1) • Meta-silicate, (x = 1, n = 1)

• Pyro-silicate, (x = 0.5, n = 2)
 Cont.….
•All silicates and analogues are derived from the silicate ion.

•The silicon atoms can be replaced by other metals to form analogous compounds.

•Alumino-silicates in which aluminum atoms partially replace the silicon atoms.

• The Si atom is covalently bonded to 4 oxygen atoms.

• Each oxygen atom possesses a

formal negative charge.

• Each tetrahedral unit has a

formal charge of –4 Different structural representations of silicate

 Cont.….
• Presence of other metallic ions such as are necessary for electrical neutrality.

• The covalent Si-O bond:

• Having a bond enthalpy of

• Strong bond compared with the C-C bond ().

• ions, the silicates tend to form chains, sheets or networks.

 Ceramics
• Ceramics are defined as a class of inorganic, nonmetallic solids that are subjected

to high temperature in manufacture and use.

• The most common ceramics are composed of oxides, silicides, carbides, and

nitrides.

• Ceramic processing generally involves high temperatures, and the resulting

materials are heat resistant or refractory.

 Cont.….

• Common examples of ceramic are

earthenware, porcelain, and brick.

• The crystallinity of ceramic materials ranges from highly oriented to semi-

crystalline, vitrified, and often completely amorphous (glasses).

• Fired ceramics are either vitrified or semi-vitrified as is the case with earthenware,

stoneware, and porcelain.

 Cont.….
• Ceramic materials to be good thermal and electrical insulators:

• Varying crystallinity

• Varying electron composition in the ionic and covalent bonds.

• General properties of ceramics: High melting temperature, high hardness, poor

conductivity, high moduli of elasticity, chemical resistance and low ductility (stretch,

bend).

• Exceptional ceramic: Piezoelectric ceramics, Glass transition temperature,

Superconductive ceramics.
 Types of ceramics
•There are four basic types of pottery, porcelain, stoneware, earthenware, and Bone

China.

•Those four vary in accordance to:

• The clay used to create them,

• The heat required to fire them.

 Cont.….
• Pottery: generic term for ceramics that contain clay and but not used for structural,

technical, or refractory purposes.

• Whiteware: that is white, ivory, or light gray in color after firing.

• It is classified as earthenware, stoneware, chinaware, porcelain, and technical

ceramics.
Manufacturing process of clay ceramics materials
• Ceramic processing is used to produce commercial products that are very diverse in

size, shape, detail, complexity, and material composition, structure, and cost.

• Ceramics are typically produced by the application of heat upon processed clays and

other natural raw materials to form a rigid product.

• Most ceramic products are clay-based and are made from a single clay or one or

more clays mixed with mineral modifiers such as quartz and feldspar. The types of

commercial clays used for ceramics are primarily kaolin and ball clay.
Steps for the manufacturing of ceramic products

• Raw material procurement, • Thermal processing,

• Beneficiation, • Glazing,

• Mixing, • Firing,

• Forming, • Final processing,

• Green machining, • Packaging.

• Drying,
Raw Material Procurement and preparation

• Raw materials are transported and stored at the manufacturing facility.

• The impure clay materials from natural deposits to ultrahigh purity powders

prepared by chemical synthesis.

• Naturally occurring raw materials used to manufacture ceramics include silica,

sand, quartz, flint, silicates, and aluminosilicates (e. g., clays and feldspar).
 Cont.….
• Clay ceramic pastes are essentially mixtures of: clay (kaolin), quartz, Feldspar.

• Clay materials impart to moist clay ceramic raw material batches the

plasticity important for their processing.

• Feldspar acts as a flux due to its alkali content.

• Quartz is used as "lean clay” and reduces the shrinkage

upon firing.
Beneficiation:
• The basic beneficiation processes include comminution, purification, sizing &
classification, calcining, liquid dispersion, and granulation.

• Comminution-reducing the particle size of the raw material by crushing, grinding,

and milling or fine grinding.

• The purpose of comminution is to liberate impurities, break up aggregates, modify

particle morphology and size distribution, facilitate mixing and forming, and
produce a more reactive material for firing.

• Crushing and grinding typically are dry processes; milling may be a wet or dry
process. In wet milling, water or alcohol commonly is used as the milling liquid.
 Cont.….
• Purify the ceramic material:

• Water soluble impurities- washing with deionized or distilled water and

filtering.

• Organic solvents-water-insoluble impurities.

• Acid leaching-metal contaminants.

• Magnetic separation-magnetic impurities.

• Froth flotation-undesirable materials.

 Cont.….
• Sizing and classification separate the material into size ranges.

• Sizing is most often accomplished using fixed or vibrating screens.

• Calcining consists of heating a ceramic material

• To liberate undesirable gases or other material

• To bring about structural transformation

Vibrating screens

• Calcining typically is carried out in rotary calciners.

 Cont.….
• Liquid dispersion of ceramic powders sometimes is used to make slurries.

• Slurry processing facilitates mixing and minimizes particle agglomeration.

• Disadvantage of slurry processing is that the liquid must be removed prior to

firing the ceramic.

Mixing:
• The purpose of mixing combine the constituents of a

ceramic powder to produce a more chemically and

physically homogenous material for forming.

• Binders and plasticizers are used in dry powder and

plastic forming. Pug mills

• Slurry processing, deflocculants, surfactants, and

antifoaming agents are added to improve processing.

Forming:
•In the forming step, dry powders, plastic bodies, pastes, or slurries are consolidated

and molded to produce a cohesive body of the desired shape and size.

• Choice of forming process is dependent upon:

• Shape of the end-product

• The required end properties

• Size of production run

Drying:
• Drying must be carefully controlled to strike a balance between minimizing drying

time and avoiding differential shrinkage, warping, and distortion.

• The most commonly used method of drying ceramics is by convection, in which

heated air is circulated around the ceramics.

• Convection drying also is carried out in divided tunnel dryers, which include

separate sections with independent temperature and humidity controls.

Firing:
• Firing is thermally consolidated into a dense, cohesive body comprised of fine,

uniform grains.

• In general:

• Fine particle size fire quickly and require lower firing temperatures;

• Dense unfired and Irregular shaped fire quickly.

• Parameters that affect firing include firing temperature, time, pressure, and

atmosphere.
• A short firing time results in a product that is porous and has a low density;

• Intermediate firing time results in fine-grained high-strength products;

• long firing times result in a coarse-grained products more creep resistant.

• Applying pressure decreases firing time.

• Oxidizing or inert atmospheres are used to fire oxide ceramics to avoid reducing

transition metals and degrading the finish of the product.

Final Processing:
• Ceramics can be machined by abrasive grinding, chemical polishing, electrical

discharge machining, or laser machining.

• Annealing cooling can relieve internal stresses

• Surface coatings are applied to many fired ceramics.

• Coatings can be applied dry, as slurries, by spraying, or by vapor deposition.

Glass
• Glass is a uniform amorphous, hard, brittle, and transparent solid material which solidifies

from the liquid state without crystallization.

• The most familiar form of glass is the silica-based material containing about 70 % amorphous

silicon dioxide (sio2).

• It is obtained when white sand is fused with alkaline earth metal oxides and carbonates. It may

be comprised of a fusion of sand, soda, lime, or other materials.

• The most common glass forming process heats the raw materials until they become molten

liquid, then rapidly cools the material to create hardened glass.

Properties of glass

• Hardness and Brittleness • Transparency

• Weather Resistance • Fire Resistant Glazing

• Insulation • Property Modification

• Chemical Resistance
 Manufacturing process of glass
Collection of Raw Materials:

• The raw material for glass production process are Lime,

dolomite, Sodium carbonate, Feldspar (sodium,

potassium, calcium, aluminum silicate), Boric acid and

boron minerals, Cullet from plant itself.

Cullet
• Depending upon the type of glass to be manufactured,
Preparation of Batch:
• The raw materials, cullet and decolorizer are finely powdered in grinding

machines.

• The mixing of these materials is carried out in mixing machines until a uniform

mixture is obtained.

• Uniform mixture is known as the batch or frit and it is taken for further process of

melting in a furnace.
Melting in Furnace:
• The batch is melted either in a pot furnace or in a tank furnace.

• The heating is continued until the evolution of carbon dioxide, oxygen, sulphur

dioxide and other gases stops.

• The two kinds of melting furnace:

• Pot Furnace

• Tank furnace
Fabrication (Forming):
• The molten glass is given suitable shape or form in this stage.

• It can either be done by hand or by machine.

• The following are the different ways of fabrication:

Blowing Drawing Rolling

Casting Pressing Spinning

Annealing:
• Process of slow and homogeneous cooling of glass articles is known as the

annealing of glass.

• The annealing of glass is a very important process. If glass articles are allowed to

cool down rapidly.

• Following are the two methods of annealing: Flue treatment and Oven treatment.

Inspection: checking the quality of glass product

Manufacturing process of glass

manufacturing process of glass

Cement
• Cement, in general, adhesive substances of all kinds, but, in a narrower sense, the binding

materials used in building and civil engineering construction.

• Cements of this kind are finely ground powders that, when mixed with water, set to a hard mass.

• Setting and hardening result from hydration, which is a chemical combination of the

cement compounds with water that yields submicroscopic crystals or a gel-like material with a

high surface area.

• Because of their hydrating properties, constructional cements, which will even set and harden

under water, are often called hydraulic cements.

 Manufacturing process of cement
Raw materials

• The major components of cement in terms of metal oxides are: CaO, SiO2, Al2O3, and

Fe2O3.

• Typically, Ca is provided from limestone,

• Si from sand or flyash,

• Al from flyash or clay,

• Fe from iron ore or slag.

Grinding
• The feed to the grinding process is proportioned to meet a desired chemical composition.

• Typically, it consists of 80% limestone, 9% silica, 9% flyash, and 2% iron ore.

• These materials are ground to 75 micron in a ball mill.

• Grinding can be either wet or dry. The “raw meal” from dry milling is stored in a

homogenizing silo in which the chemical variation is reduced.

• In the wet process, each raw material is fed with water to the ball mill.

• This slurry is pumped to blending tanks and homogenized to correct chemical composition.
Pyroprocessing
• In the preheater, the raw meal from the mill is heated with the hot exhaust gas from the

kiln before being fed into the rotary kiln to form a semi-product known as clinker.

• Basic chemical reactions includes evaporating all moisture, calcining the limestone to

produce free calcium oxide, and reacting minor materials (sand, shale, clay, and iron).

• This results in a final black, nodular product known as “clinker”

• The main reactions which give the real strength of cement are as follows:
Finish grinding
• The final process of cement making is called finish grinding.

• The clinker is dosed with a controlled amount of gypsum and fed into a finish

mill.

• Other additives may be added during the finish grinding process to produce

formulated cements such as waterproofing and corrosion resistant cements.

• The cement is stored in a bulk silo for packaging and/or bulk distribution.
Flow diagram for manufacturing process of cement