During zinc oxide manufacturing, you will not get zinc oxide right away. Some steps must be taken to produce zinc oxide that is used a lot for various industries. Here are the main stages of zinc oxide production.
Raw Materials Selection
First things first, the manufacturing process will be started from choosing raw materials for making high quality zinc oxide. The raw materials used for producing zinc oxide can be obtained from natural zinc ore. Nevertheless, industrial waste containing zinc is also used for zinc oxide raw materials.
Processing Zinc Oxide
Once the raw materials have been chosen, the process for making zinc oxide can be continued further. The next step to take is to crush and grind the raw materials of zinc oxide. This step is necessary to produce finer and more uniform zinc particles.
Reduction
Reduction process cannot be separated from zinc oxide manufacturing. During the process, ground zinc will be mixed with carbon in a specific reactor. The reactor will be heated at a high temperature to promote chemical reaction that produces zinc vapor.
Oxidation
The next process is oxidizing the zinc vapor with oxygen or air. This process will produce zinc oxide and waste gas, after all.
Filtering and Cleaning
The zinc oxide resulting from the oxidation process is not ready to use yet because it still contains unwanted particles and contaminants. That is why it needs to be filtered and cleaned to remove those unwanted contents. Modern filtering technology is used for making sure that zinc oxide filtering and cleaning processes can be done properly.
Packaging
Last but not least, since the zinc oxide has been filtered and cleaned, it is ready to be delivered to customers. Of course, the zinc oxide manufacturing process will also include packaging in various shapes based on customers’ preference. Customers can order zinc oxide blocks, pellets, or fine powders.