To produce high-purity silica sand usable for glass making, the present study was carried out. The objective of this work was to increase the silicon dioxide (SiO2) content to at least 99% using a simple process without chemical input. The raw sand samples were taken from the Ivorian sedimentary basin, Côte d’Ivoire.

Wet sieving and attrition technique were used for the purification process. The results from the energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS) analyses of the raw and treated samples show a significant increase of silica content and a significant reduction of impurities. The silica content (SiO2) of the sand of Maféré increases from 98.73% ± 0.15% to 99.92% ± 0.05%. The rate of iron oxide and alumina is reduced in these sands. Moreover, the sand of Maféré contains 53.2% of grains of size lower than 500 microns. Regarding the chemical composition of these purified sands, it meets the standard BS2975s, the American Ceramic Society and the National Bureau of Standards for window glass making.