The purpose of this project is preparation of spherical silica gel that is used as catalyst for the production of melamine powder in Urimia’ petrochemical complex.
The suitable catalysts for production of melamine crystals is a spherical silica gel with properties such as; particle size 125-500 mm, surface area 300-500 m2/g and average pore diameter 8-12 nm.
In this project, studies and experiments have focused on using cheap raw materials and easy method to prepare the final product. Therefore, sodium silicate (water glass) were used as the main raw material (source of silica).
Two main ways for preparation of the product were used in this work; addition of acid to silicate solution and addition of silicate solution to acid. Then, in order to gain optimized sample, the affecting parameter such as raw materials concentration, reaction and washing pH, temperature, hydrothermal circumstances and curing conditions.
The physico-chemical properties of our optimized sample such as water absorption capacity, density and surface area (BET) were acceptable compared with the sample used in this complex.