Sodium Silicate Production From Water-Glass

Liquid sodium silicate is produced by dissolution of water glass (solid sodium silicate).  The process is carried out batch-wise.

• The sodium silicate dissolving unit is aimed to dissolve solid sodium silicate (water glass) in form of lumps in order to obtain a 44%w/w liquid solution.
• The water glass dissolution process is carried out into the dissolving autoclave R-501 and is batch-wise and manually operated.
• Water glass in form of lumps is supposed to be available in big-bags and loaded in the dissolving autoclave by dedicated hoist and charging hopper. 
• Process water and steam are also fed to the autoclave for dissolution process.
• Steam at medium pressure is used in the autoclave to raise the operating temperature and to speed-up the dissolution.
• The dissolution completion requires about 4 hours and the operation is completed when the correct concentration of the solution is achieved. 
• During the dissolution process, the autoclave inner pressure and temperature are continuously monitored by means of pressure transmitter and temperature transmitter. 
• Once completed the batch operation, the produced liquid sodium silicate is discharged, filtered and transferred to storage.
• The time required to complete a batch is about 6 hours. This time includes the raw materials charging, the dissolution and the sodium silicate solution transferring to storage.