SILICA (SiO2) USES

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Transcript SILICA (SiO2) USES

SILICA (SiO2) USES
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Silica (SiO2) is found in hundreds of products and industries, from
simple sand to Space Shuttle heat shield tiles. The Company has
vast deposits of raw silica ore of top grade hardness and purity,
suitable for uses which have the most stringent requirements.
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The Company’s silica deposit is unique in that
 it is nearly 100% pure,
 it is extremely hard quartz,
 it is so easily available, and
 it is so large.
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Initial production will fund entry into a series of increasingly
higher-margin silica–based products. Products range, for
example, in order from simplest/cheapest to more
complex/expensive:
 Decorative silica stone and roadbed base rock
 Fractioning sand (“frac sand”) – Frac sand slurry is used to
fracture subterranean rock in oil and natural gas wells to
revive production
 Fumed silica
 Optical fiber cable
 Silica aerogels, selling for $6,500 USD per ounce
Silicon is a silica alloy used in the making of computer chips and
solar panels.
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Uses of silica include:
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production of window glass,
drinking glasses and beverage
bottles
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optical fibers for
telecommunications
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analytical instruments - UV
spectrophotometer cells,
military fire control devices,
reticle substrates,
interferometer plates
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a primary raw material for
many whiteware ceramics
such as earthenware,
stoneware and porcelain, as
well as industrial Portland
cement
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an additive in the production
of foods, pharmaceuticals and
health supplements, where it
is used primarily as a
smoothing agent (think
Peanut Butter) and as a flow
agent in powdered products
and in pill manufacture
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More uses of silica include:
 to absorb water in
hygroscopic applications
 the primary component of
diatomaceous earth, which
has many uses ranging
from filtration to insect
control
 the primary component of
rice husk ash which is used
in filtration and cement
manufacturing
 thin films of silica grown on
silicon wafers via thermal
oxidation methods, where
it can be quite beneficial in
microelectronics, acting as
an electric insulator with
high chemical stability
 in electrical applications, it
can protect the silicon,
store charge, block current,
and even act as a
controlled pathway to limit
current flow
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Further uses of silica:
 as a raw material for
aerogel in the Stardust
spacecraft
 in the extraction of
DNA and RNA due to its
ability to bind to the
nucleic acids under the
presence of chaotropes
 as a defoamer
component
 in toothpaste
 as a refractory in fiber
form as a hightemperature thermal
protection fabric
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More uses of silica:
 in cosmetics, it is
useful for its lightdiffusing properties
and natural
absorbency.
 colloidal silica is used
as a wine and juice
fining agent.