Chemical and Technical Investigations on Soil Characterization and Silicic Acid Preparation

Physicochemical Characteristics of three soil samples collected from Qaser Bin Ghashir region, south of Tripoli, Libya have been investigated in terms of soil permeability, density (ρ), water content (WC), organic content (OC), dissolved salts content (DS), and inorganic ash content (IAC) as-well-as the reaction towards mineral acids and bases. Silicic acid Si(OH)4 was successfully prepared from a sandy soil sample in a considerable amount and the mechanistic equations were proposed for three possible preparation routes of the acid. Results show that the sandy sample is the most permeable and reliable soil for the water penetration and silicic acid preparation respectively. Values of pH and the reaction between soil samples and mineral acids prove the alkalinity nature of the samples. Chemical composition of the investigated samples were determined and were found to vary from the sample to another and from content to other according to the origin and nature of the soil.