Macroscopic Modeling and Phase Field Modeling of Solar Grade Silicon by Molten Salt Electrolysis

Excerpt

The sixth Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report (IPCC) recently released predicts a deep reduction in emissions to meet global goals of 1.5 °C reduction in temperature. It states that concentrations of CO₂ have continuously increased in the atmosphere reaching averages of 410 ppm in 2019 [1]. Therefore, it becomes imperative to reduce CO₂ in any way possible. Silicon, which is an important material for renewable energy, electronics, and metallurgy, is primarily produced by the carbothermic reduction of quartz. This metallurgical grade silicon is then refined by the Siemens Process to solar grade silicon using hydrogen chloride. The by-product of trichlorosilane from this process is highly volatile and unstable [2]. …