Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Impurity Aluminum Removal in Industrial Silicon by CaO-SiO2-CaF2 Slagging Refining

  • Research
  • Published:
Silicon Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The study of impurity removal kinetics in the refining and purification of industrial silicon is essential to refine the purification process and improve impurity removal efficiency. In this paper, influencing rules of slag system compositions, a mass ratio of slag to silicon (slag/silicon), and refining time with impurity aluminum content in industrial silicon were investigated by slagging refining experiments. The values of apparent rate constant (kAl) and mass transfer coefficient (βAl) of aluminum acquired from refining time and its corresponding impurity content were 1.42 × 10–4 s−1 and 7.90 × 10–7 m·s−1, respectively. Experimental results showed that the rate of silicon loss increases slightly with the increase of refining time during slagging refining compared to gas blowing refining. The influence of refining time on silicon loss during slagging refining is much less than that of gas blowing refining, which was more suitable for the refining operation of industrial silicon.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Data Availability

All data generated or analysed during this study are included in this published article.

References

  1. Huang LQ, Chen J, Fang M, Thomas S, Danaei A, Luo XT, Barati M (2018) Clean enhancing elimination of boron from silicon kerf using Na2O-SiO2 slag treatment. J Clean Prod 186:718–725. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.03.152

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Ni HY, Lu SJ, Chen CX (2014) Modeling and simulation of silicon epitaxial growth in Siemens CVD reactor. J Cryst Growth 404:89–99. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrysgro.2014.07.006

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Lei Y, Sun L, Ma W, Wei K, Morita K (2016) Enhancing B removal from Si with small amounts of Ti in electromagnetic solidification refining with Al-Si alloy. J Alloy Compd 666:406–411. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jallcom.2016.01.127

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Chen K, Chen XH, Lei Y, Ma WH, Han JX, Yang ZH (2018) Mechanism of enhancing B removal from Si with V addition using Al-Si as the refining solvent. Sep Purif Technol 203:168–177. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seppur.2018.03.067

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Woditsch P, Koch W (2002) Solar grade silicon feedstock supply for PV industry. Sol Energy Mater Sol Cells 72(1–4):11–26. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0927-0248(01)00146-5

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Gribov BG, Zinov’ev KV (2003) Preparation of high-purity silicon for solar cells. Inorg Mater 39(7):653–662. https://doi.org/10.1023/a:1024553420534

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Xu S, Zhang X, Li Y, Wei C, Zhao Y (2010) Improved homogeneity of microcrystalline thin film by delayed silane method. Sci Sin-Phys Mech As 40(12):1487–1490. https://doi.org/10.1360/972010-1475

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Tan Y, Guo X, Shi S, Dong W, Jiang D (2013) Study on the removal process of phosphorus from silicon by electron beam melting. Vacuum 93:65–70. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vacuum.2012.12.010

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Xia Z, Wu J, Ma W, Lei Y, Wei K, Dai Y (2017) Separation of boron from metallurgical grade silicon by a synthetic CaO-CaCl2 slag treatment and Ar-H2O-O2 gas blowing refining technique. Sep Purif Technol 187:25–33. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seppur.2017.06.037

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. He Q, Wu JJ, Yang F, Zhou YQ, Liu K, Ma WH (2022) Thermodynamic properties of impurity components in silicon-based solutions: influence of interactions among components on impurity removal from silicon. Sep Purif Rev 51:452–467. https://doi.org/10.1080/15422119.2021.1986409

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Wu JJ, Li YL, Ma WH, Wei KX, Yang B, Dai YN (2014) Boron removal in purifying metallurgical grade silicon by CaO-SiO2 slag refining. Trans Nonferrous Met Soc China 24(4):1231–1236. https://doi.org/10.1016/s1003-6326(14)63183-6

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Li YQ, Chen W, Lu J, Lei XH, Zhang LF (2021) Boron removal from metallurgical-grade silicon by slag refining and gas blowing techniques: experiments and simulations. J Electron Mater 50(3):1386–1396. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-020-08651-4

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. He Q, Wu JJ, Ma WH (2022) Thermodynamic calculation of activity interaction coefficients of Fe to P, Ti, Ni, Cu, Cr, and V in silicon-based solutions. Vacuum 202: 111160. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vacuum.2022.111160

  14. He Q, He NY, Yang D, Wu JJ, Wei KX, Ma WH (2022) Oxidation kinetics and mechanism of boron in metallurgical-grade silicon melt by CaO-SiO2 slag refining. Metall Mater Trans B 53:1841–1850. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11663-022-02493-7

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Mei XY, Ma WH, Wei KX, Dai YN (n.d.) Experiment research on purifying metallurgical grade silicon and crystal growth in directional solidification. In: 2nd International conference on multi-functional materials and structures, (Qingdao, PEOPLES R CHINA, 2009), pp 1213–1216. https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.79-82.1213

  16. Li PT, Wang K, Jiang DC, Ren SQ, Tan Y, An GY, Zhang L, Guo XL, Wang F (2017) Coupling of metallurgical method to remove impurities in solar grade polycrystalline silicon. J Inorg Mater 32(3):281–286. https://doi.org/10.15541/jim20160324

  17. Yu WZ, Ma WH, Zheng Z, Lei Y, Jiang WY, Li J (2017) Si Purification by removal of entrapped al during electromagnetic solidification refining of Si-Al alloy. Metall Mater Trans B 48(5):2804–2811. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11663-017-1005-x

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. He NY, Yang D, Xu M, Wu JJ, Wei KX, Ma WH (2021) Oxidation kinetics of impurities in metallurgical-grade silicon melt by O2 blowing refining process. Metall Mater Trans B 52(3):1830–1838. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11663-021-02149-y

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Cao J, Yang D, Wu JJ, Gu HZ, Cai XY, Zeng Y, Ma WH (2021) Study on oxidization and mass transfer of Al from Si-Al Melt using top oxygen blowing refining. Silicon 52:1830–1838. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12633-022-01672-0

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Suzuki K, Kumagai T, Sano N (1992) Removal of boron from metallurgical-grade silicon by applying the plasma treatment. ISIJ Int 32:630–634. https://doi.org/10.2355/isijinternational.32.630

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to acknowledge the financial support on this research from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (22078140), the Talent Training Program of Yunnan of China (202005AC160041), and the major R&D project of Yunnan of China (202002AB0800020102 and 202202AG050012).

Funding

The authors wish to acknowledge the financial support on this research from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (22078140), the Talent Training Program of Yunnan of China (202005AC160041), and the major R&D project of Yunnan of China (202002AB0800020102 and 202202AG050012).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Metallurgical and Energy Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, 650093, People’s Republic of China

    Qian He, Min Xu, Zhengjie Chen, Jijun Wu & Wenhui Ma

  2. Yunnan Yongchang Silicon Industry Co., Ltd, Baoshan, 678300, People’s Republic of China

    Jianhua Wen, Guiming Yang & Fuchang Xu

  3. National Engineering Research Center of Vacuum Metallurgy, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, 650093, People’s Republic of China

    Min Xu, Zhengjie Chen, Jijun Wu & Wenhui Ma

Authors
  1. Qian He
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jianhua Wen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Guiming Yang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Fuchang Xu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Min Xu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Zhengjie Chen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Jijun Wu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Wenhui Ma
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

Qian He: Data curation, Writing—original draft, Writing—review & editing, Validation. Jianhua Wen: Resources, Investigation. Guiming Yang: Writing-review and editing. Fuchang Xu: Writing-review and editing. Min Xu: Writing-review and editing. Zhengjie Chen: Writing-review and editing. Jijun Wu: Conceptualization, Funding acquisition. Wenhui Ma: Supervision.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Jijun Wu or Wenhui Ma.

Ethics declarations

Competing Interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Ethical Statement

This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors. In this experiment, we did not collect any samples of human and animals.

Consent to Participate

Not applicable.

Consent for Publication

Not applicable.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

He, Q., Wen, J., Yang, G. et al. Impurity Aluminum Removal in Industrial Silicon by CaO-SiO2-CaF2 Slagging Refining. Silicon 15, 5445–5453 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12633-023-02453-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12633-023-02453-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation