Chemical Properties of Potassium Silicate Solutions Depending on KOH and SiO2 Concentration

The water glass typically used in industry is synthesized using sodium and potassium silicate. In our experiment, as the selective adsorption of the strongly acidic cation exchange resin is greater when the valence of the ion is larger, the water glass was synthesized via a KOH solution rather than a NaOH solution to use a potassium ion with a relatively large valence in terms of efficiency. When synthesizing fumed silica-based quartz powder, we prepared a potassium silicate solution mixed with fumed silica, KOH, and deionized water (DIW). The commercial fumed silicas included a metallic concentration of ~1.292 ppm. The chemical reaction between KOH and fumed silica, which synthesizes a potassium silicate solution, is given in Equation (1). In addition, the chemical reaction to remove potassium ions from the synthesized potassium silicate solution during an ion exchange process with a strongly acidic cation-exchange resin is expressed in Equations (2) and (3). To understand the change in the components of the sample solutions, the differences in the transmittance spectra for potassium silicate solutions at different KOH concentrations were observed at wavenumbers 500–2000 cm−1 using FT-IR. The two main peaks for the fumed silica (SiO2) and the water glass were observed at the 1100 and 1030 cm−1 bands, respectively. The peak at 1100 cm−1 corresponds to the Si−O−Si stretching vibration, which mostly appears in SiO2, and the peak at 1030 cm−1 corresponds to the Si−O (K) vibration, which mostly appears in the water glass. The intensity of the peak at 1100 cm−1 decreased, wing the concentration of KOH in the water increased ass and disappeared at KOH concentrations higher than four wt%. Meanwhile, the peak intensity at 1030 cm−1 increased gradually with the KOH concentration in the water glass. If you are looking for high quality, high purity, and cost-effective Quartz powder, or if you require the latest price of Quartz powder, please feel free to email contact mis-asia.