Silica has played a continuous part in man's development and been one of the basic raw materials supporting the industrial revolution (as refractory, flux, and moulding sand) and today's information technology revolution (providing the raw material for silicon chips).

Industrial silica is used in a vast array of industries, the main ones being the glass, foundries, construction, ceramics, and the chemical industry.




Silica in its finest form is also used as functional filler for paints, plastics, rubber, and silica sand is used in water filtration and agriculture.

Other examples of everyday uses include the construction and maintenance of an extensive range of sports and leisure facilities.




Crystalline silica is also irreplaceable in a series of high-tech applications, for example in optical data transmission fibres and precision casting. It is also used in the metallurgical industry as the raw material for silicon metal and ferrosilicon production. Another specialized application is in the oil production.

Altogether there are several hundreds of applications of industrial silica in our daily life. Silica products have become so obvious to us that we don't even know they are being applied. Reading this page, you will be surprised to find out how many times per day you see, touch and use products containing crystalline silica.

In 1997, Brian Coope made a Socio-Economic Review of Crystalline Silica Usage whose conclusion is that if man wishes to live in silica free environment he must move to another planet.