| Industry |
Application |
Role/benefit |
| Food |
Powdered foods, such as salt, many spices, etc. |
Ant-caking agent/ when added to a mixture, prevents its ingredients from binding together |
| Nutritional health food supplements |
Source of silicon/maintain healthy strong bones and joints and minimizes aluminum effects on the body |
| Wine, beer and juice |
Fining agent |
| Chemical manufacture |
Manufacture of silicon compounds and sodium silicate |
Raw material |
| Construction |
Production of portland cement |
Raw material |
| Sand casting |
Main ingredient/high melting point |
| Glass |
High purity silica glass |
Raw material/high temperature and corrosion resistance |
| Domestic glass and optical devices |
Essential component |
| Ceramics |
Manufacture of ceramic glaze |
Main constituents/forms glass when heated to bind others ingredients together |
| Metallurgy |
Manufacture of silicon alloys |
Raw material or additive |
| Pharmaceutical |
Drug tablets making |
Flow agent/aids powder flow when tablets are formed |
| Preventing Alzheimer’s disease |
Effective components/minimizes aluminum effects on the body which may cause Alzheimer’s disease |
| Electronics |
Fiber optic cables |
Raw material/high level of heat conductivity and low rate of transmission loss |
| Wire insulation |
Raw material/high melting point and good insulating property |
| Semi-conductors |
Source of silicon |
| Piezoelectric transducer |
Main component/can convert mechanical energy to electrical energy and vice-versa |
| Others |
Refractory materials |
Main component/high melting point and high shock resistance |
| Rubber and plastics |
Additive/improves wearing capacity |
| DNA Extraction |
Source of silicon/has binding properties which help to isolate the strands of DNA |
| Manufacture of silica gel |
Source of silicon/hygroscopic property |
| Defoaming |
Defoamer component |
| Silica-based aerogel |
Source of silicon |
| Hydraulic fracturing |
Thickening agent |