Diatomite is composed of amorphous SiO2 and contains a small amount of Fe2O3, Cao, MgO, Al2O3 and organic impurities. Diatomite is usually light yellow or light gray, soft, porous and light. It is often used in industry as heat preservation material, filter material, filler, grinding material, water glass raw material, decolorizer, diatomite filter aid, catalyst carrier, etc.
The special porous structure of natural diatomite can be observed under microscope, which is the reason why diatomite has characteristic physical and chemical properties.
The main component of diatomite as carrier is SiO2. For example, the active component of industrial vanadium catalyst is V2O5, the cocatalyst is alkali metal sulfate, and the carrier is refined diatomite. The results show that SiO2 has a stable effect on the active component, and it is strengthened with the increase of K2O or Na2O content. The activity of the catalyst is also related to the dispersion and pore structure of the support. After the diatomite was treated with acid, the content of oxide impurity decreased, the content of SiO2 increased, the specific surface area and pore volume also increased, so the carrier effect of refined diatomite was better than that of natural diatomite.
Diatomite is generally formed by silicate remains after the death of unicellular algae called diatoms. Its essence is water-bearing amorphous SiO2. Diatoms can survive in both fresh and salt water. There are many kinds of diatoms, which can be generally divided into "central order" and "featherline order". In each order, there are many "genera", which are quite complex.
The main component of natural diatomite is SiO2. The high quality diatomite is white, and the content of SiO2 is often more than 70%. Single diatomite is colorless and transparent. The color of diatomite depends on clay mineral and organic matter. The composition of diatomite from different sources is different.
Diatomite is a kind of fossil diatomite deposit formed after the death of a single celled plant, which is called diatom. Diatom is one of the earliest protozoa on the earth, living in the sea water or lake water.
This kind of diatomite is formed by the deposition of the remains of the single cell aquatic plant diatom. The unique performance of this diatomite is that it can absorb the free silicon in water to form its skeleton. When its life is over, the diatomite deposit will be formed under certain geological conditions. It has some unique properties, such as: porosity, low density, large specific surface area, relative incompressibility and chemical stability. It can be applied to many kinds of industrial requirements, such as coating and paint additives, after changing the particle size distribution and surface properties of raw soil through grinding, separation, calcination, air flow classification, impurity removal and other processing procedures.