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Study of Mass Transfer in Gas Blowing Processes for Silicon Purification

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Metallurgical and Materials Transactions E

Abstract

Boron removal processes are crucial to make the metallurgical route for silicon refining for solar cells competitive and thus reduce the cost of solar energy. The rate-limiting step was investigated in silicon purification processes for boron removal based on gas blowing, to gain better understanding that should help to improve the design of such processes. We calculate the boron concentration in the off-gas that corresponds to chemical equilibrium between the gas and silicon. The real concentration in the off-gas ranges between 9 and 30 pct of this theoretical value calculated using Gibbs free energies reported in literature. Purification experiments with varying temperature and hydrogen concentration were done to evaluate whether limited chemical reaction rates induce deviation from chemical equilibrium. The experiments and data from literature show that the chemical reactions at the surface of the melt are close to chemical equilibrium, thus the purification rate is limited by mass transfer in the gas phase near the interface. Based on this, recommendations for the design of a gas blowing purification process are given.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, Grenoble INP, SIMaP, 38000, Grenoble, France

    Jochen Altenberend, Guy Chichignoud & Yves Delannoy

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  1. Jochen Altenberend
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  2. Guy Chichignoud
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  3. Yves Delannoy
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Correspondence to Jochen Altenberend.

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Manuscript submitted May 9, 2016.

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Altenberend, J., Chichignoud, G. & Delannoy, Y. Study of Mass Transfer in Gas Blowing Processes for Silicon Purification. Metallurgical and Materials Transactions E 4, 41–50 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40553-016-0105-x

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