Identification of Quartz Sand From the Hills of Gunung Walat at Sukabumi Regency for Raw Materials of Nano Silica Precipitate

Abstract

Gunung Walat Hills Formation, Sukabumi Regency is an area that has abundant natural quartz sand resource potential. Quartz sand from the Gunung Walat hills is partly in the form of Quartz Wacke which is composed of monochrystaline and polychristaline quartz minerals associated with clay minerals so it has high Al2O3 and Fe2O3 impurities. Until now the use of quartz sand from the hills of Gunung walat has only been used as building material so that it has a low sale value. In this paper, we will examine the potential of quartz sand from Gunung walat hills for the raw material of nano silica precipitates so that it can increase the added value of natural resources of quartz sand. In this paper the results of identification are described by taking samples from unprocessed quartz sand, the results of washing by mining companies and dissolving with sulfuric acid. From the results of the X-Ray Fluorescent analysis it is seen that quartz sand from mining has a silica composition of 85.869% wt, water leaching results by the mining company 93.702% and sulfuric acid leaching results obtained levels of 95.672% wt. The results of SEM-EDX analysis show that impurities Al2O3 and Fe2O3 are in the mineral sludge, not in one complex compound bond on the same grain so it is relatively easier to separate. From the identification results it can be seen that quartz sand from the Gunung Walat hills can be used as a raw material for making nano silica precipitates.