Silica or silicon dioxide is found in abundance in the earth’s crust and is generally always present in a facility’s raw water intake. Silica is found in higher concentrations when dealing with groundwater and naturally occurs in many forms, such as crystalline, amorphous, or mixed in with other elements. This element is also synthetically produced, as it is commonly used in industry to make certain products, such as concrete, abrasives, electronics, and glass.

Infeed water, since silica can accumulate on machinery surfaces and cause hard mineral deposits known as scale, many facilities work to remove this contaminant before it causes production issues. Scaling is a deposit formed on the inside of piping and heat transfer surfaces when the water is heated and impurities precipitate or settle out. These deposits can build up and interfere with heat transfer or, in extreme cases, cause tube and system failure.

In wastewater, removal is needed due to many effluent limitations include some kind of guideline on the level of total suspended solids (TSS) or total dissolved solids (TDS) your facility is allowed to discharge. They can scale and foul piping and machinery.

And we need to remove silica while planning to reuse the wastewater for process water. Removing silica will mitigate membrane and system fouling and scaling, which can impede your production process.

Swaraj has over 30 years’ experience custom-designing and manufacturing wastewater treatment systems, so kindly reach out to us with your questions. For more information or to get in touch, contact us here. We can walk you through the steps for developing the proper solution and realistic cost for your wastewater treatment system to meet your cyanide treatment or removal needs.