Micrograder Silica Sand Washing & Processing Plant
Specialist sand with optimised specification and minimal environmental impact, from a modular wet processing system built for critical mineral recovery.
The CFlo Micrograder is a modular silica sand washing and beneficiation plant for specialist industrial sands: glass, foundry, frac, filter, sports and equestrian sand. It combines attrition scrubbing, precision rinsing screens, spiral gravity concentrators and upward-flow classification with Hydromax water recycling, delivering tightly specified sand from a compact plant footprint.
Specialist sand, engineered to specification
Industrial sands serve a variety of uses and typically require more complex processing than construction grade sand. Sometimes a high level of purity is called for; sometimes the finished product must adhere to very tight standards and specifications. The Micrograder is built for exactly this work: frac sand, sports and horticultural sand, foundry sand, glass sand (including float glass grade), filter sand and equestrian sand.
CFlo's experience in the design, manufacture and installation of specialist sand classification and beneficiation systems ensures sand specification is optimised, plant footprint is reduced and environmental impact stays minimal. Being Super modular, each Micrograder is configured from proven modules to match your deposit and your target product.
Inside the Micrograder
- Feed point efficiency: an integrated belt feeder transfers material efficiently from hopper to process, with a belt weigher fitted as standard
- Atropure Attrition Cells: a dynamic attrition scrubber that maximises product yield through efficient contaminant removal, operating at 80% solids concentration for maximum scrubbing efficiency and higher specific capacity at lower power, hence lower running costs
- Screenmax Precision Fine Rinsing Screen: superior screening and classification of fine sand, with robust side walls, superior abrasion resistance for long operational life, and even power distribution across the full screening area for efficient screening and dewatering
- Spiropure Spiral Gravity Concentrators: accurate density separation that removes contamination from the final product, separating slurry particles by density and hydrodynamic properties
- Vertimax Upward Flow Classifier: classifies particles by size and upgrades feed containing groups of differing specific gravity, with heavy material settling in the tank and lighter material reporting to the overflow
Water recycling and sludge management
The Hydromax Water Recycling System is a high rate thickener delivering 85% water recycling with the smallest equipment footprint in its class. It minimises environmental impact, reduces the space needed for settling ponds and cuts health and safety risks on site. Downstream, the Centriscreen Dewatering & Sizing System delivers washed sand ready for market straight from the belts, while CFlo's sludge management technology accelerates tailings drying and returns recycled water to the plant faster than other systems.
Proven in the field
Phenikaa Hue Mineral Processing in Vietnam produces low-iron silica sand for Cristobalite manufacture with a 30–35 TPH Micrograder BT50, recycling 95% of its process water. Livic Minerals in Bharuch runs a Micrograder BT100 producing 100 TPH of AFS 50-55 foundry-grade sand, lifting raw material worth Rs 250 a tonne into product selling at Rs 1,200 a tonne. CFlo has also delivered silica sand beneficiation at Chu Lai, Vietnam for glass-grade production.
Frequently asked questions
What sands can a Micrograder produce?
The Micrograder is designed for specialist industrial sands: frac sand, glass sand up to float glass grade, foundry sand, filter sand, and sports, horticultural and equestrian sand. Each plant is configured to the purity and gradation your end market demands, using the classification technologies CFlo has evolved across hundreds of wet processing installations.
How does the Micrograder remove iron and other contamination?
Through staged processing. Atropure attrition cells scrub surface coatings off each grain at 80% solids, Spiropure spiral gravity concentrators strip out heavy contaminant minerals by density, and the Vertimax upward flow classifier separates by settling behaviour. Phenikaa in Vietnam uses this circuit to produce low-iron silica sand pure enough for Cristobalite manufacture.
How much water does a silica sand washing plant recycle?
The Micrograder's Hydromax high rate thickener recycles 85% of process water with the smallest equipment footprint in its class, and installations such as Phenikaa Vietnam achieve 95% overall recycling with full sludge management. That reduces settling pond area, environmental impact and on-site health and safety risks.
What capacities are available?
Micrograder plants are sized to the project: Phenikaa Vietnam runs a Micrograder BT50 at 30–35 TPH for high-purity Cristobalite feedstock, while Livic Minerals runs a Micrograder BT100 at 100 TPH for foundry sand. Because the system is modular, capacity and process stages scale to your deposit and product specification.
Is a silica sand processing plant worth the investment?
The value uplift is the business case. At Livic Minerals, raw sand worth about Rs 250 a tonne becomes AFS 50-55 foundry-grade product selling at around Rs 1,200 a tonne after processing through the Micrograder BT100. Specialist sands command specialist prices, and the plant is what closes that gap.
How is the Micrograder different from a standard sand washing plant?
A standard wash plant removes silt and dewaters. The Micrograder adds the beneficiation stages specialist sand demands: attrition scrubbing, precision fine rinsing, spiral gravity concentration and upward-flow classification, plus a belt weigher as standard for process control. That is the difference between construction sand and sand that meets glass, foundry or frac specifications.
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