Can Chinese sodium silicate move beyond detergents and paper into high-purity applications?

Can Chinese sodium silicate move beyond detergents and paper into high-purity applications?
That is where the value sits. Sodium silicate is the starting point for colloidal silica used in semiconductor polishing, precision casting, coatings and catalyst carriers, and for electronic-grade CMP slurry via ion exchange. It also feeds high-purity quartz sand for photovoltaic crucibles. The problem is purity: most domestic output carries too much aluminum, iron and titanium to qualify for fine chemicals, so high-grade material still has wide room to grow. Ion exchange with high-capacity, low-leakage strong-acid cation resin is the route to PPB-level silica. Black talc from Jiangxi, with roughly 60% silica and 97% whiteness after calcination, is emerging as an alternative silica source.