Synthesis of high purity beta-silicon carbide

A method for synthesis of beta-silicon, comprising:

• providing an extract derived from PRB coal and a sandstone powder derived from sandstone;
• removing impurities from the extract and the sandstone powder with an acid;
• mixing the purified extract and sandstone powder;
• carbonizing the mixture of extract and sandstone powder for synthesis of beta-silicon under an inert gas flow;
• and
• treating the beta-silicon with an organic chemical compound to remove any unreacted carbon.

A method for synthesis of beta-silicon from carbon fiber production residual and a sandstone comprising:

• providing a residual taken from carbon fiber production using coal and a sandstone powder;
• treating the residual for extracting liquid tar;
• removing impurities from the residual and the sandstone powder;
• mixing the clean residual and sandstone powder;
• carbonizing the mixture of residual and sandstone powder for synthesis of beta-silicon;
• and
• treating the beta-silicon to remove any unreacted carbon.