Study on Process Mineralogy and Selectivity of a Quartz Sand in Shaanxi Province

It is beneficial to conduct mineralogy research on the abundant quartz sand resources located in Shaanxi Province, thereby providing high value and efficient utilization methods. Base on modern testing techniques such as polarizing microscope, ICP, XRD, EPMA, etc., the mineralogical characteristics of quartz sand, such as the chemical composition, mineral composition, particle size distribution, and the presence of impurity elements, were analyzed. A technological process of gravity separation-magnetic separation-scrubbing floating-acid leaching for purification was proposed, followed by experimental study on selectivity. The raw quartz sand was purified with the SiO₂being increased from 99.64% to 99.90%, while the total content of impurities being decreased from 3395.80 μg/g to 909.85 μg/g, which can be used as ahigh quality quartz sand source for photovoltaic glass.