Sand is made up, primarily, of very small quartz (silicon dioxide, or SiO2) crystals. Quartz is one of the most common minerals found on the Earth’s surface, so it is both an easily found mineral and one we use in many, many ways. Sand is used in water filtration, in glass manufacturing, in industrial casting, as an abrasive in many applications, in producing concrete, in adding texture to slick roads, and as a filler in children’s sand boxes. Silica sand, however, has a higher price than the sand usually used to help on deicing roads and making concrete. This is because it is a purer sand, having the composition and grain-size distribution required for industrial applications. Silica sand has well-rounded, consistently sized granules of almost pure quartz grains.
The demand for silica sand has been rising steadily for years now. Globalization—if you will forgive such a sweeping generalization—is one of the main reasons, as is the increased demand worldwide for glass (think HD TVs, tablets and cell phones), and the significant increase in the use of hydraulic fracturing in the oil and gas industry. The hydraulic fracturing process for oil and gas extraction takes a mixture of silica sand (often called frac sand), water and chemicals and injects this mixture into a well under very high pressures. Small cracks form in the bedrock and the sand in the mixture helps to prop open these tiny fissures. From the fissures, conduits form that increase the flow of fluids and gas within the well.
Today’s market size is the value of silica sand sold worldwide in 2011 and a forecast for its value in 2016.
Geographic reference: Worldwide
Year: 2011 and a forecast for 2016
Market size: $6 billion and $9.2 billion respectively
Sources: (1) World Industrial Silica Sand, a brochure to promote an industrial study produced by The Freedonia Group and published in October 2012. The brochure is available online here. (2) “Industrial Silica Sand FAQs,” Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, last updated on October 31, 2012 and available here.
Posted on January 29, 2014