A method for preparing quartz glass with low content of hydroxyl and high purity, includes providing silica powders including hydroxyl groups. The silica powders are dehydroxylated, which includes drying the silica powders at a first temperature, heating the silica powders up to a second temperature and introducing a first oxidizing gas including halogen gas, thereby obtaining first dehydroxylated powders, and heating the first dehydroxylated powders up to a third temperature and introducing a second oxidizing gas including oxygen or ozone, thereby obtaining second dehydroxylated powders. The second dehydroxylated powders are heated up to a fourth temperature to obtain a vitrified body. The vitrified body is cooled to obtain the quartz glass with low content of hydroxyl and high purity. The quartz glass prepared by the above method has low content of hydroxyl and high purity. A quartz glass with low content of hydroxyl and high purity is also provided.

The invention relates to a process for the preparation of a quartz glass body comprising the process steps i.) Providing a silicon dioxide granulate, ii.) Making a glass melt from the silicon dioxide granulate in an oven, and iii.) Making a quartz glass body from at least a part of the glass melt, wherein the oven comprises a hanging sinter crucible. The invention also relates to a quartz glass body which is obtainable by this process. The invention further relates to a light guide, an illuminant and a formed body which are each obtainable by further processing the quartz glass body.

One aspect relates to a process for the preparation of a quartz glass body. The process includes providing a silicon dioxide granulate from a pyrogenically produced silicon dioxide powder, making a glass melt out of silicon dioxide granulate, and making a quartz glass body out of at least part of the glass melt. The size of the quartz glass body is reduced to obtain a quartz glass grain. The quartz glass body is processed to make a preform and an opaque quartz glass body is made from the preform. One aspect further relates to an opaque quartz glass body which is obtainable by this process. One aspect further relates to a reactor and an arrangement, which are each obtainable by further processing of the opaque quartz glass body.

The invention relates to a process for the preparation of a quartz glass body comprising the process steps i.) Providing silicon dioxide particles, ii.) Making a glass melt out of the silicon dioxide particles in an oven and iii.) Making a quartz glass body out of at least part of the glass melt, wherein the oven has a gas outlet through which gas is removed from the oven, wherein the dew point of the gas on exiting the oven through the gas outlet is less than 0 C. The invention further relates to a quartz glass body which is obtainable by this process. The invention further relates to a light guide, an illuminant and a formed body, which are each obtainable by further processing of the quartz glass body.

One aspect is a process for the preparation of a quartz glass body including providing a silicon dioxide granulate wherein the provision includes providing silicon dioxide powder, and processing the silicon dioxide powder to obtain a silicon dioxide granulate. The silicon dioxide granulate has a larger particle diameter than the silicon dioxide powder. The processing includes processing the silicon dioxide powder to obtain a silicon dioxide granulate I, wherein the silicon dioxide granulate I has a first carbon content wC(1), treating the silicon dioxide granulate I with a reactant to obtain a silicon dioxide granulate II with a further carbon content wC(2), wherein the further carbon content wC(2) is less than the first carbon content wC(1), making a glass melt out of the silicon dioxide granulate and making a quartz glass body out of at least part of the glass melt.

One aspect relates to a process for the provision of a quartz glass body, including providing a silicon dioxide granulate, making a glass melt from the silicon dioxide granulate in an oven and making a quartz glass body from at least part of the glass melt. The oven includes a hanging metal sheet crucible. One aspect also relates to a quartz glass body which is obtainable by this process. One aspect further relates to a light guide, an illuminant and a formed body which are obtainable by processing the quartz glass body further.

The invention relates to a process for the preparation of a quartz glass body comprising the process steps i.) Providing a silicon dioxide granulate, wherein the silicon dioxide granulate was made from pyrogenic silicon dioxide powder and the silicon dioxide granulate has a BET surface area in a range from 20 to 40 m.sup.2/g, ii.) Making a glass melt out of silicon dioxide granulate in an oven and iii.) Making a quartz glass body out of at least part of the glass melt, wherein the oven has at least a first and a further chamber connected to one another via a passage, wherein the temperature in the first chamber is lower than the temperature in the further chambers. The invention further relates to a quartz glass body which is obtainable by this process. The invention further relates to a light guide, an illuminant and a formed body, which are each obtainable by further processing of the quartz glass body.

One aspect relates to a process for the preparation of a quartz glass body. The process includes providing a silicon dioxide granulate I prepared from a pyrogenically produced silicon dioxide powder, treating the silicon dioxide granulate I with a reactant at a temperature in a range from 1000 to 1300 C., and making a glass melt out of the silicon dioxide granulate. A quartz glass body is made out of at least a part of the glass melt. Furthermore, one aspect relates to a quartz glass body obtainable by this process. Furthermore, one aspect relates to a light guide, an illuminant, and a formed body, each of which is obtainable by further processing of the quartz glass body. One aspect additionally relates to a process for the preparation of a silicon dioxide granulate II.

It has been found that conventional cheap waterglass qualities in a strongly acidic medium react to give high-purity silica grades, the treatment of which with a base leads to products which can be processed further to give glass bodies with low silanol group contents.