Journal
SOLAR ENERGY
Volume 80, Issue 10, Pages 1349-1354Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.solener.2005.11.009
Keywords
solar-grade silicon production; silicon manufacturing; concentrated solar energy; silicon nitride; solar thermal; silicon purification; process heat; Si3N4; SG-Si; high temperature process; solar furnace
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The temperature required for carbothermal reduction of silica-in the range 2100-2300 degrees C-is past the upper limit for combustion process heat. It is therefore an interesting candidate for solar-thermal processing. The production of solar-grade silicon from carbothermally produced silicon requires an energy-intensive long-duree high-temperature purification process. We propose here a two-step solar process for the production of silicon from silica: first, a carbothermal reduction in the presence of nitrogen to yield silicon nitride and second, the solar dissociation of the nitride to yield silicon. This last step could be combined with purification of the silicon if solar-grade silicon is the desired end-product. In this paper, we report on experimental results that indicate that silicon nitride can be dissociated to yield silicon with no detectable nitride content. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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