Field Trip C

Industrial Sands/Ceramics & Fuels

Carmeuse – Silica Sands

Ohio has been blessed with a wide variety of aggregates and industrial minerals, including high silica sand deposits, primarily found in the eastern part of the state. This stop will visit one of the most innovative plants in the Midwest. Of particular interest is the tramway system used to transport the raw material from the mine site to the processing facility.

Some of the many uses of this high silica sand are:

Glass Sand. The single most common use of industrial sand (38 percent of total tonnage in 2003) is in glass making, where glass or quartz sand constitutes 52 to 65 percent of the weight of finished glass. Glass sand requires a high percentage of silica—the principal ingredient of sand—because the presence of other elements such as iron oxide and clay introduces visible impurities that mar the glass's transparency

Fracturing Sand. Fracturing or hydraulic "frac" sand, also known as "proppant" sand, accounted for 5 percent of U.S. industrial sand production in 2003. It is comprised of washed and graded high silica-content quartz sand with a grain size of between 0.84 and 0.42 millimeters and is used in high-pressure fluids pumped into oil and gas wells to enlarge or scour out openings in oil-or gas-bearing rock or to create new fractures from which oil or gas can be recovered. Traditionally, the "fracture treatment" at an average well uses 26,000 pounds of fracture sand, and annual demand for fracture sand increases or decreases with the level of activity in the oil and gas industry.

Abrasive Sand. Abrasive sand and blast sand, which accounted for 5 percent of total industrial sand tonnage in 2003, include quartz-based silica sand used in sandpaper, glass grinding, stone sawing (as in dimension stone manufacturing), metal polishing and metal casting cleaning, and in sandblasting to remove paint, stain, and rust. While sands with angular-shaped grains are often used because they cut faster, sands with rounded grains last longer and yield a smoother finish.

Filtration sand is used by municipal water departments to remove bacteria and sediment from water supplies. Although filtration sand is generally mined from the same quarries as molding and glass sands, it has to be free of clay, lime, and organic matter as well as insoluble in hydrochloric acid. Other industrial uses include enamel manufacture, various metallurgical applications, and the production of phosphoric acid for the fertilizer industry.

National Ceramic Museum and Heritage Center

The National Ceramic Museum and Heritage Center is known for some of the best pottery ever produced, the region is sometimes referred to as “pottery country” or the “clay belt”. The term “Roseville Pottery” is used to describe much of the pottery produced in the area. The National Ceramic Museum and Heritage Center contains many fine examples of Art Pottery and other pieces that date from the 1880's to the present. Today, the region is still home to many excellent pottery manufacturers, producing high quality wares for discriminating buyers. Many fine artists, ceramic sculptors and potters also choose to live in the area and create their art works. The region is known as a global center for the production of pottery and ceramic arts.

Buckingham Coal

Coal has been and continues to be the lifeblood of electrical generation in Ohio. This carbon rich sedimentary rock was formed from the consolidation of fossil plant materials. Visit one of the most modern, state of the art coal processing facilities in the Midwest.

Although coal is found and mined in only 16 of Ohio’s 88 counties, Ohio ranked 14th in coal production in 2006 with a total of nearly 23 million tons produced. Ohio coal is primarily used in the generation of the electricity that is critical to all aspects of our live. Average annual employment in 2006 was 2,423 employees averaging over $56,000 a year. Coal mining, besides being extremely hard work, is a time-honored tradition and the men and women that supply this critical raw material are the backbone of the Ohio economy.

More information on Ohio’s Coal industry at:
http://ohiodnr.com/Portals/10/pdf/GeoFacts/geof15.pdf