Development of fluidized bed reactors for silicon production

For an installed silicon based solar cell panel, about 40% of the energy consumed producing the cell was used during production of the silicon feedstock. Reducing the energy consumption in this step is therefore crucial in order to minimize the energy payback time of installed capacity. The most promising alternative to the conventional methods is fluidized bed reactors (FBR). The development of FBR for the production of polysilicon is here reviewed. Through the last half century several research groups and companies have contributed to the development of such reactors to a point where the method is competitive on the terms given in today's marked. Most work within the field of research has been done by the industry and this has resulted in few articles and a substantial amount of patents on the topic. This article aims to summarize the development and to paint the complete picture on what concepts have been investigated, what challenges arose and where the development stands today. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.