Brief history and Prospect of silica gel development

Silica gel, that is, silica gel, is usually formed by the reaction of sodium silicate and sulfuric acid through polymerization, gelation, purification and structural characterization. It is a highly active adsorption material with microporous structure. Silica gel is an amorphous substance, its chemical composition is mainly silica, and contains a certain amount of structural water. Due to the characteristics of chemical composition and physical structure, silica gel has many excellent properties that are difficult to be replaced by other similar materials. For example: adsorption performance, selective adsorption, thermal stability, chemical stability, wear resistance and impact strength, etc.

Silica gel appeared in 1881 and has a history of more than 100 years. But at that time, we only knew about silica gel through experiments. It was not until * * World War II that silica gel was prepared on a small scale as an adsorbent for gas masks due to the emergence of chemical weapons. In 1920, Davidson chemical company in the United States carried out semi industrial production on a trial basis. Then, with the expansion of silica gel consumption, the company made a large-scale industrial device for silica gel production in 1928.

After World War II, with the rapid development of modern industry, various industrialized countries have made significant progress in the research and development of silica gel products. As adsorbent, dispersant, reinforcing agent, catalyst and catalyst carrier, it is widely used in many fields, such as chemical industry, rubber, plastics, petrochemical industry, heavy industry, medicine and food industry. In the United States, Japan, the Soviet Union, West Germany and other industrial developed countries, they have successively entered the stage of serial production, that is, according to different uses, they produce a series of products with different physical structures (such as different aperture, specific surface, pore volume, particle type system and size, etc.) and different purity requirements.

China began to produce silica gel in 1955, mainly for military industry, and implemented the Soviet toct3956-54 standard. By the early 1960s, due to the application of silica gel in other fields, the production and research of silica gel had been strengthened, and the production had developed from a single block silica gel to a variety of varieties, including spherical, microsphere silica gel, activated silica gel, blue gel indicator, high-efficiency desiccant, etc. After entering the 1970s, with the process of domestic industrialization, the production of silica gel has further developed. From product output, production technology to serial production, it has entered a new development period, and the quality of many varieties has also reached the level of advanced industrialized countries. So far, the total domestic output of silica gel has reached more than 6000 tons. In addition to the domestic market, a considerable number of products are for export, mainly sold to Japan, West Germany, Switzerland, Britain and other industrialized countries and regions.

Now, the production of silica gel in China has made great progress. In order to make greater progress in the future, we must strengthen the combination of production and scientific research, and pay attention to the research of application, so as to promote the sustainable development of silica gel production.