Process for the production of granular quartz glass

Claim 1

A process for preparing quartz glass which consists essentially of: A. forming a silicic acid ester of an alcohol selected from the group consisting of a C 1 -C 5 aliphatic alcohol, a C 2 -C 8 alkanol wherein the carbon chain of the alkyl group can be interrupted by one or more oxygen atoms and a C 2 to C 5 glycol by reacting silicon or ferrosilicon with said alcohol; B. hydrolyzing said silicic acid ester by contacting the same with 105-500 percent of the stoichiometrically necessary amount of water, said water having a pH of 2-5 to thereby form a silica sol; C. gelling said silica sol by subjecting it to an elevated temperature up to 100° C.; D. drying said gel by heating at increasing temperatures up to 300° C.; E. comminuting the so dried gel; and F. heating the so-comminuted gel at increasing temperatures which can be up to a temperature of 1400° C.