Assessment of Sand and Glass Industry in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Although the economic value of glass products and its importance to the Saudi National Economy is vast, not much information is available about the current state of the art of the industry. Likewise, little information is available about geography, potential sites for mining sand and the sand quality. This paper attempts to bridge this gap by presenting a feasibility study of fabricating normal glass and glass ceramics from Saudi Arabia’s domestically available raw materials. It discusses the current status of the glass industry in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East region. It also gives a brief explanation about the sand topography in Saudi Arabia. In order to determine the feasibility of fabricating glass using these raw materials, experimental data on the fabrication of normal glass and glass ceramics from indigenously available raw materials was obtained and reported as part of the findings of this paper. Firstly, normal transparent glass was able to be fabricated without any apparent large defects using sand collected from the Ar Rayis region in Saudi Arabia. Four nano-sized crystallization catalysts, namely VC, WC, TiC and Y₂O₃, were added to the constituents of the glass in 3 wt.%. For VC, the crystallization process was limited. The glass ceramics of WC consisted of multi-dimensional edges crystals which covered all the matrix. Gray crystalline whiskers were obtained by addition of TiC. The Y₂O₃- glass ceramics consisted of multi-directionally rosette crystals. Finally, the microhardness values of the added crystallization catalysts glass ceramics were obtained and found to be much higher compared to normal glass. The results show that glass of high quality can be produced specifically for the Ar Rayis region which would be of interest to researchers, the glass industry personnel and potential investors.

1. Background

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia lies between Africa and Asia, occupying about three-fourths of the Arabian Peninsula. Most Saudi Arabian areas are mountains valleys and forests, and the remaining parts of it (30%) are covered by vast sandy deserts [1], which consist mainly of silica and other oxides, which form the main raw materials of glass [2]. The glass industries of the world are vast in terms of size as well as extremely diverse, both in terms of the range of products made and the diversity manufacturing techniques employed. The utilization of glass ranges from banal windows or bottles to antinuclear radiation containers; from architectural and structural glasses to photosensitive glass devices used in machine controls; from food preparation tanks to newest optical fibers [3]. The most commonly used glass composition by far is soda-lime glass because it is cheap and easy to manufacture. The optimum glass composition usually consists of 72% silica, 15% soda, about 10% lime and magnesia, 2% alumina, and 1% miscellaneous oxides. Soda-lime glass is used for windows, containers, bottles, jars, everyday tableware, and lamp envelopes. It accounts for about 90% of all tonnage manufactured [4]. On the other hand, glass ceramics are crystalline materials obtained when a glass of specific compositions is mixed with a small amount of crystallization agent, such as TiO₂ or CaF₂ or ZrO₂ or other titanate phases, such as BaTiO₃, PbTiO₃, and subjected to devitrification heat treatment. The properties of the resulting glass ceramics were controlled through the chemical compositions of the ingredients, devitrification heat treatment sequence and cooling rate [5,6,7,8,9,10]. However, many glasses are stable against crystallization; therefore, the choice of specified compositions is important in order to create glass ceramics. Glass ceramics are used in a wide range of technical applications including construction, domestic, military and in the microelectronics industry [5].

The majority of glass currently manufactured in Saudi Arabia is either sheet glass or glass molded into jars and bottles. A total of 95% of sheet glass is used for glazing in houses and factories, with the remaining 5% is used for making mirrors or toughened for use in domestic appliances such as ovens [11].

1.1. Glass in the Middle East

Glass has been well known in the Middle Eastern region since the third millennium (Mesopotamia). It is historically accepted that the first manufactured glass was found about 5000 years ago in Egypt [12]. Until the 1st century BC, when blowing appeared, glass objects were mainly used for producing ornaments and small containers for cosmetics. Soon afterwards, Western Europeans learnt about glass processes and started to develop it themselves. For the next 500 years, Egypt, Syria, and the other countries along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea became glassmaking centers. Fragments constituted of plain glass with a few decorated samples are usually blown or mold-blown; these could be of vessels, windows, bangles, beads, pins, or weights. Glass finds have been unearthed during excavations of coastal sites at Sharma, al-Shihr. Others have been found in the south of the Arabian Peninsula, around Aden and Julfar in the Persian Gulf and also in Bahrain and in Kuwait. There have also been fragments found in Saudi Arabia, at Masafi, and Yamama [13].

The glass industry in the Arabian Gulf is currently undergoing rapid development. The rapid pace of development of the construction industry greatly stimulates the demands for flat and high added-value glass products in the Arabian regions, especially in the UAE and Saudi Arabia. In recent years, the UAE and nearby regions have undergone unprecedented growth both in the real estate and automobile industries, which causes a continuous growth of demand for glass products with high performance, environmental friendliness and a superior quality. In order to meet the growing demand, UAE and most countries in this region have to import a large quantity of glass from other countries. At the same time, the local glass enterprises also gained extensive and rapid development [14].

Fitch Ratings expects the construction sector in the Arabian Gulf region will continue to be supported by government spending (about USD 5 trillion over the next decade). Particular emphasis will be placed on social and affordable housing to meet the needs of the growing indigenous populations. Moreover, growth in construction will be driven by the high economic growth, the desire for diversification and, in some cases, preparations for global sporting events. One of the main components for the infrastructure raw material is the glass products [15]. Important facilitators of construction growth in the region are expected to include changes to mortgage laws in Saudi Arabia, driving residential construction, and more private sector participation in infrastructure investments across the region. The Arabian Gulf region is likely to continue to be a major source of growth in the global construction market. Demographic factors, economic growth and regional governments’ pursuit for more balanced economies will serve as powerful stimuli for construction demand [16]. A recent study has reported that several major construction and infrastructure projects have been awarded within six of the countries which include: USD 119 billion in Saudi Arabia; USD 75 billion in UAE; USD 26 billion in Qatar; USD 30 billion in Oman; USD 25 billion in Kuwait; and USD 10 billion in Bahrain [17].

Fabricated flat glass demand will benefit from rapid growth in sales of energy-efficient products such as solar control, insulation, and low-emissivity (E) glass. The solar energy market, which was hurt by recent global economic weaknesses, is expected to take off briskly once again. It should be noted, however, that demand for flat glass used in solar energy applications totaled around 120 million square meters, so this can be considered as a niche market. The UAE has announced a planned USD 90 billion five-year spending spree on housing, schools, infrastructure and leisure projects, making the capital the latest Gulf monarchy to unveil big new spending since the ‘Arab spring’ uprisings. The USD 90 billion spending plan is aimed at the citizens and echoes the USD 130 billion investment program launched in Saudi Arabia. The Middle East container glass sector has three major consumer markets: the beverage sector, which accounts for around 56% of total tonnage of glass packaging containers; the food sector, which makes up around 29%; and the perfumery, pharmaceuticals and technical product containers sector, which accounts for about 15% of total tonnage [18].

A report by the Gulf Organization for Industrial Consulting on flat glass stated that the Gulf countries are developing future markets due to the significant growth of the construction sector, which is supported by high oil prices and the increase in population. The report estimated the total investment in the construction sector in the Gulf countries at more than USD 180 billion dollars until 2022 [19]. The report also added that there are more than 75 companies involved in the glass sector in the Gulf countries, most of which are concentrated in Saudi Arabia, which accounts for the production of 131 thousand tons annually, while the capacity of the basic industrial units reaches about 1.1 million tons annually. The report pointed out that the overall annual growth rate in flat glass consumption was 4%, compared to 8.2% for household consumption growth. It is also expected to increase to between 10 and 12% over the next three years, and the prices of imported flat glass range between 450 and 600 dollars per ton, or between 6 and 8 dollars per square meter. It is noteworthy that the glass industry in the Gulf countries consists of a small group of companies producing glass and a larger group of glass manufacturers. The producers operate integrated plants that produce normal float glass [20]. Another report from the Gulf Industrial Knowledge Center revealed that the glass industry and glass products in the building materials industry represented about 7% of the total number of factories, 6.4% of the total investments and 7.3% of the total number of workers.

1.2. Glass in Saudi Arabia

The glass industry in Saudi Arabia, is an industry whose raw materials are available naturally in such an abundance. It is an industry that branches out and overlaps with many other industries such as automobiles, buildings, electricity, packing bottles and utensils, etc., reaching to economically viable levels. Many glass factories have been constructed in different region: Obeikan Glass Co., located in Yanbu produces clear floating glass with different thicknesses. Saudi Arabian Glass CO (SAGCO), located in the Red Sea port of Jeddah produces flint, green and amber glass, Arabian United Float Glass Company (UFG), located in Yanbu produces clear float, light green, mirror glass and patterned glass. Mahmood Saeed Glass Industry Company, located in Jeddah produces glass bottle, jars and glass food containers. Al-Andalus Glass, located in Riyadh, produces insulated glass, double glass, laminated glass and tempered glass [21,22].

On the other hand, Saudi Arabia imports a huge amount of glassware. Unfortunately, there are no available data on the import of glass goods in 2020. The only available data reported that Saudi Arabia spent 2076 million Saudi Riyals in the fourth quarter of 2020 for importing construction materials including glass and glassware. On the other hand, a detailed report about the glass and glassware that was imported from different countries in the year of 2018 is summarized in

Table 1. Glass imports according to countries for the year 2018 [23].

Ref	Glass Goods	Countries	Quantity, Tons	Price, Thousand SR
1	Other glass tubes	China, USA, Belgium	2180	20,111
2	Other Drawn or blown glass	United Arab Emirates, Italy, Turkey	2697	15,136
3	NON-Wired float glass with reflecting layer	United Arab, India, China	15,969	28,423
4	colored non wired float glass	United Arab Emirates, Thailand, China, USA, Belgium	36,665	64,926
5	other non-wired float glass	United Arab Emirates, China, Germany, Poland	10,959	23,094
6	tempered safety glass for transportation	China, USA	3273	18,160
7	other tempered safety glass	United Arab Emirates, China, USA, Poland	1861	46,717
8	laminated safety glass for transportation	China, Japan, Egypt, USA, Peru	6901	40,641
9	other laminated safety glass	United Arab Emirates, China, Japan, Germany, Italy	1334	29,594
10	multiple-walled insulating units of glass	Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, China, Italy, Turkey	7649	52,771
11	rear-view mirrors for vehicles	China, Taiwan, South Korea, USA	1022	25,131
12	unframed glass mirrors	URE, China, Turkey	3524	19,374
13	framed glass mirrors	India, Malaysia, China USA, Italy	9343	70,294
14	other bottles and beakers of glass	Kuwait, Oman, URE, India, China, Indonesia, Egypt, USA, Germany, France, Italy	41,493	172,845
15	tableware or kitchenware of glass-ceramics	URE, India, China, USA, France, Turkey, Poland	18,798	125,603
16	other drinking glasses with leg	China, Italy	1027	10,374
17	other drinking glasses other than of glass ceramic	Jordan, China, France, Italy, Turkey	7399	40,838
18	other glassware of a kind used for table (other than drinking	UAE, India, China, UK, France, Italy, Turkey	7395	65,503
19	others glassware	UAE, China, Taiwan, France	2553	29,366
20	glass cubes and other glass small wares	UAE, India, China, Tunisia, Italy, Spain	3872	27,843
21	other glass paving blocks and the like; leaded light	China, Canada, Belgium, Italy, Spain	21,107	1750
22	other lab glassware	China, USA, Germany	263	11,135
23	mats of glass fibers	China, USA, UK	15,164	2112
24	other articles of glass fibers	Bahrain, UAE, India, China, Egypt, USA, Germany, Turkey	37,573	2263
25	other articles of glass	India, China, USA, Switzerland, Germany	20,971	851
Total			280,992	937,886

General Authority for Statistics. Website: International Trade Statistics http://www.stats.gov.sa, (accessed on 6 June 2022).

. Saudi Arabia spent, in 2018, almost one billion Saudi Riyals importing about 280,992 tons of glass from many countries in Europe (France, Italy, Germany, Poland, Belgium and Spain), Asia (China, India, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea), Middle East (United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Bahrain), USA, Turkey, Switzerland and Peru [23].

1.3. Sand Geography in Saudi Arabia

Sand is defined as loose granular material which ranges in size from 62.5 to 2000 μm derived from weathering and the natural disintegration of rocks, minerals and other materials on the Earth’s surface [11]. The sand is found in four main regions in Saudi Arabia, which in total comprises one-third of the Saudi Arabian area, 780,000 km²: The Al Nafud desert, the Dahna desert, the Empty Quarter desert and the Al-Jafouda desert. Al-Nafud desert is located as a big sea of sand in the northwest of the Kingdom. It has an estimated area of about 64,630 km² and consists of longitudinal and transverse sand dunes [24]. In the southeast, there is the Empty Quarter desert, which is the largest continuous sandy desert in the world, with an area of more than 600,000 km². Between them, two longitudinal regions begin to extend in the form of arcs [25]. The first sandy area is located to the east and is called the Dahna Desert. Its length is 1200 km and its width ranges between 20 and 80 km. It is noted that the sand areas in the Kingdom are concentrated in areas with low terrain, often in narrow, rectangular plains, and confined between a mountain edge in the east and a slope inclined towards the east in the west, or in large basins with low terrain. Sand is also concentrated in the Najd plateau in the form of Sebai veins, which extend from north to south. Its length is 176 km, and its width varies between 30 and 50 km. Among the areas of concentration of sand, the Nafud Alsura, which extends in a direction from northwest to southeast, with a length of 177 km and ranges between 4 and 10 km in width and covers an area of about 548 km² [26].

One of the key questions to be asked is what would be the potential feasibility in utilizing these sand deposits as the raw materials for manufacturing glass? Would they prove to be suitable and to what extent would be the quality of glass which will be produced? To answer this question, a laboratory experiment manufacturing glass was carried out from samples collected from several sites. This paper also reports on such an experiment that was carried out as part of this research work and gives an indicative assessment of their sand quality. The experimental methods and results are given in the following section.

2. Methodology

Six sand samples were collected from different Saudi regions located in the map shown in Figure 1. The sand samples were analyzed using X-ray fluorescence (XRF- 1800 spectrometer, Shimadzu, Kyoto, Japan) to ensure the quality of the sands, and the results are shown in

Table 2. The compositions of six sands from 6 different arias of Saudi Arabia obtained by the XRF analysis.

No.	Region	SiO2	Al2O3	Fe2O3	CaO	Na2O	K2O
1	Madinah	76.21	10.52	2.32	2.26	3.11	1.13
2	Jeddah	93.51	2.61	0.72	0.21	0.19	0.01
3	Ar Rayis	97.02	1.62	0.62	0.18	0.12	0.11
4	Rabigh	75.07	11.20	4.53	3.42	2.51	1.54
5	Al Majma’ah	95.62	1.42	0.79	0.32	0.22	0.09
6	Unayzah	94.51	1.25	0.72	0.65	0.37	0.55

. A quantity of 70 wt.% of the sand from Area 3 (Ar Rayis) was chosen as the main constituents to fabricate the glass products, due to the high percentage of silica. Actually, most glass companies prefer to use sands that have silica of purity of more than 99% and contain practically no impurities. Any small amount of metallic oxides will affect the glass color or cause some defects in the finished glass. For this reason, the sand of other places is not suitable for glass manufacturing due to the high percentages of impurities. Soda ash of purity 99.95% (InoChem, Dammam, Saudi Arabia) with 15 wt.% was the second added ingredients. Limestone of purity 99% (SaudiLime, New Industrial Area, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia) comprises almost 12% by weight of the produced glass. Firstly, the sand was washed and dried before the weighing process. Then, 15 wt.% soda ash and 12 wt.% limestone were added. All components were mixed manually to be sure that it is mixed homogenously. Then, 3 wt.% each of (Titanium carbide) TiC, (yttrium oxide) Y₂O₃, (vanadium carbide) VC and (Tungsten carbide) WC (all from Nanoshel UK Ltd., CW12 4AB, UK) was added as a nano-size powders to the ingredients as a crystallization catalyst to promote the formation of glass ceramics. To the best of our knowledge, there are so far no reports regarding the fabrication of glass ceramics using such powders. The added powders were summarized in

Table 3. Glass and Glass Ceramic-Fabricated samples.

Sample No.	Catalyst Type	Purity, %	Particle size	Wt.%
1	Plain glass without any crystallization catalyst addition
2	VC	99.00	<100 nm	3
3	WC	99.95	30 nm	3
4	TiC	99.90	30 nm	3
5	Y2O3	99.90	40 nm	3

. The mixed ingredients were packed in graphite mold and melted in electric furnace (FU2-8-16N, Acculab, New York, NY, USA). The temperature of the furnace was adjusted at 1150 °C. The furnace takes about 3 h to reach to this temperature. Then, the soaking time was adjusted to 3 h to remove any gas porosities.

Crystallization processes for the formed glasses were performed using two steps. First, the glass samples were heated to 630 °C for 2 h and at a heating rate 10 °C/min to promote nucleation. The temperature was then raised to 920 °C for 6 h to promote crystal growth. Then, the samples were furnace cooled to gives the glass a chance to slowly cools down to room temperature. The microstructures of the resulting materials were examined using optical microscopy (Olympus, Tokyo, Japan) after etching by 1% HF + 1% HNO₃ solution in 20 s. For hardness measurements, a Vickers microhardness tester (Akashi Corporation, Akashi-shi, Japan) was used. The testing load was 9.8 N with loading time 15 s for all measurements of glass and glass ceramic samples. A total of 5 indentation readings were taken for each sample.

3. Results and Discussion

The microstructure of the formed plain glass sample No. 1 (without crystallization catalyst addition) as opaque brown color and look as a featureless amorphous microstructure, homogenous, dense with slight presence of porosity, as shown in Figure 2. The glasses fabricated with the addition of crystallization catalyst show significantly different topographies and contain inhomogeneities. All the samples were less transparent with a dark brown color. For sample No. 2 of VC, the structure appeared as a glassy matrix with a limited amount of crystallization. The formed crystals take the form of randomly distributed single dots, as shown in Figure 3. This may be due to the large particle size of VC. The mixing can enhance the topological and chemical short-range order, leading to the formation of a dense packing structure and enhancing the stability of the undercooled liquid against crystallization. On the other hand, the fine grain size particles have a positive heat of mixing, which tend to segregate to form clusters (nucleation) inside the glassy phase upon undercooling.

The nanosized WC modified sample No.3 to be glass ceramics structure as shown in Figure 4. The structure consisted of edged crystals which covered all the matrix. Some clusters were appeared in bright color in Figure 4b, which most probably WC. For the added TiC (sample No.4), gray crystalline whiskers (Figure 5) were observed within the glassy matrix. The length of the whiskers was very fine and reached about 30 nm. This is due to the smaller particle size of the TiC particles. Carbides are present in the early stages of crystallization treatments and presumably push the sillimanite (Al₂SiO₅) to nucleate. Moreover, some non-crystalline glassy lakes appeared in some parts, as shown in Figure 5d. This is maybe due to the lack of homogeneity of the raw materials which gives the opportunity of some local areas to be depleted from the TiC particles. Additionally, the formed crystalline phase is stable and has high bonding energy; the non-crystalline glass remained after the crystallization treatment. Figure 6 shows the large crystalline phases which were clearly distributed in the glassy matrix in sample No. 5 of Y₂O₃. The microstructure exhibited multi-directionally rosette crystals around the nucleating agent particles with sizes ranging from ~4 to ~20 µm. The crystals start on these particles and then grow to different directions. The oxides, especially with nano-sized, is considered strong catalysts for crystallization. It served as heterogeneous nucleation sites for the crystals to be nucleated. Y₂O₃ plays a vital role for crystal nucleating as it induces liquid–liquid phase separation in the glass. The Y₂O₃-rich liquid will then start to be crystalized.

As shown in

Table 4. Microhardness of the fabricated samples.

Sample No.	Hardness Kg/mm2 (Standard Deviation)
Plain glass	312 (6.63)
2 (VC)	417 (13.40)
3 (WC)	640 (12.82)
4 (TiC)	710 (24.18)
5 (Y2O3)	687 (17.58)

, Vickers microhardness values for crystallized samples are much higher than that of normal plain glass. The hardness values of the crystallization catalyst samples are almost twice of that of the corresponding normal glass. The crystalline phases play an important role in preventing cracks and slipping propagation during indentation, which improves the hardness values [27,28]. The relatively lower hardness values of the normal glass samples may be attributed to occurrence of microvoids and other defects in the glassy structure. The difference in the crystalline fraction and the phases present in each sample might explain the different behavior of Hv. The lower values of these mechanical properties may indicate the lower crystallinity of the new composition. The relatively lower hardness values in samples that have lower values of crystallized phases may be attributed to occurrence of voids, cracks, and point defects in the crystalline phases. Additionally, it may be due to active slipping at the glass–crystal interfaces.

The main conclusions from this study showed that it is possible to produce good quality normal glass without large voids from the sites. Additionally, it was possible to produce good quality glass ceramic with twice the hardness of normal glass from raw materials gathered from these sites as well. This would be of great interest to potential investors seeking to invest in glass making factories in the aforementioned regions of Saudi Arabia.

4. Conclusions

This paper has reviewed the current state of the art of the glassmaking industries in Saudi Arabia. It has also reviewed the present and future demands for glass products in the Saudi and Gulf Areas. The results show that the current local industries are unable to meet the growing demand for all forms of glass and glass-related products by local construction industries as well as the other consumers of the country. Hence, for the moment, Saudi Arabia will still have to import large volumes of glass products to make up for the shortfall. This represents both a major challenge as well as a major business opportunity for the country. The readily available amount of large indigenous raw material resources has also been highlighted, which are yet to be fully explored or researched. This paper has also reported on experimental research carried out in the same project to ascertain the sand quality material from one of the sample sites. The results of this research have confirmed that it was possible to produce normal glass as well as glass ceramics with superior qualities. This bodes well for the sustainability and future of the glass industry in Saudi Arabia because the exploitation of this infinitely large natural resource will not only satisfy the local markets but also extend the possibility of Saudi Arabia being a major glass exporter to the Gulf and beyond in line with Saudi Vision 2030.