The north-central region of the State of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil, offers great potential for the efficient and sustainable use of quartz sand, taking into account their occurrence in colluvial and fluvial sedimentary deposits and also its versatility in terms of abundance and mineral properties. Thus, 100 drilling points were defined and the samples characterized in terms of their chemical, physical and mineralogical properties. The main results showed that the characterized sands have relatively high contents of silica (SiO2) and low iron oxide (Fe2O3), that is, 70% of samples containing more than 90% SiO2 and 63% of samples containing less than 1% Fe2O3. Particle size analysis revealed an average particle size between 150 and 500 µm for 90% of samples. Thus, the feasibility of using quartz sand for the production of glass is presented and discussed.
quartz sands; characterization; industrial applications
