Production of foamed sand using near infrared

1. A method for producing a bulk material essentially from foamed or blown mineral or oxidic particles by thermal treatment of a bed of basic particles, the method comprising:

transporting a transversely conveyed or horizontal layer or a trickle stream of the bed of the basic particles through a radiation field of radiation whose essential active component is in a near infrared, NIR, range having a wavelength in a range between 0.8 μm and 1.5 μm and which has a power density of at least 50 kW/m 2 for thermally treating the basic particles; and

adjusting a maximum temperature in the layer or in the trickle stream to a temperature in a range between 600 and 1500° C.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the basic particles are a sand with a high water glass content, a grain size in the range of 50-500 μm, and a water glass content of at least 40%.

3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the bulk material of foamed or blown sand particles at an end of the thermal treatment, without a separation step, comprises a proportion of at least 60% of perlite particles with at least one of a substantially closed surface or a particle size is in a range of 0.3 mm-2 mm.

4. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising using halogen lamps to generate the NIR radiation field, radiation of which is focused on the layer or trickle stream of the bulk material.

5. The method according to claim 4 , further comprising actively irradiating the layer or trickle stream of the bulk material from a main surface and a portion of the radiation passing through is reflected back into the layer or trickle stream.

6. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising exposing the layer or trickle stream to the NIR radiation field for a period of time in the range between 0.5 and 20 s.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein a power density of the NIR radiation field on a surface of the layer or trickle stream is above 300 kW/m 2 .

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein a layer thickness of the layer or the trickle stream is in range between 2 mm and 30 mm.

9. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising transporting the bulk material through the NIR radiation field which includes several heating areas with different power density.

10. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising, in addition to the transport through the radiation field with NIR radiation, carrying out at least one further thermal treatment step on the thermally treated basic particles.

11. The method according to claim 10 , further comprising transporting the layer of the bed of basic particles horizontally or transversely through the radiation field with near infrared radiation and thereby thermally pretreating the bed of basic particles, and then subjecting the thermally pretreated bed to an after-treatment in an induction furnace or a second radiation field with infrared radiation.

12. The method according to claim 11 , wherein the subsequent treatment step is carried out in a multi-zone furnace, the heating zones of which have a temperature which rises from an inlet to an outlet thereof.

13. The method according to claim 12 , wherein a temperature of the first heating zone is set in a range between 950 and 1050° C., a temperature in a second heating zone is set in a range between 1050° C. and 1150° C., and a temperature in a third heating zone is set in a range between 1150° C. and 1250° C.

14. The method according to claim 10 , further comprising after the thermal treatment, carrying out a rapid cooling of the bulk material.

15. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising a separation step of separating the foamed or blown particles from non-foamed or non-blown basic particles based on different specific weight thereof.

16. The method according to claim 15 , further comprising carrying out the separation step together with the thermal treatment or a cooling step in one and the same plant part.