Granular quartz glass product

Claim 1

A quartz glass consisting essentially of silica, said quartz glass containing alkoxy groups, said alkoxy groups present in an amount of less than 1 weight percent, said quartz glass having a total impurity content of less than 1 part per million, said quartz glass having a surface area, measured in accordance with BET, of approximately 400 to 800 square meters per gram prepared by a process consisting 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 -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 gel; C. Gelling said silica sol by subjecting it to an elevated temperature up to 100° C.; and D. Drying said gel by heating it at increasing temperatures up to 300° C. until the silica gel achieves a free flowing state.