Solar silicon via the Dow Corning process

Technical feasibility for high volume production of solar cell-grade silicon is investigated. The process consists of producing silicon from pure raw materials via the carbothermic reduction of quartz. This silicon was then purified to solar grade by impurity segregation during Czochralski crystal growth. Commercially available raw materials were used to produce 100 kg quantities of silicon during 60 hour periods in a direct arc reactor. This silicon produced single crystalline ingot, during a second Czochralski pull, that was fabricated into solar cells having efficiencies ranging from 8.2 percent to greater than 14 percent. An energy analysis of the entire process indicated a 5 month payback time

Solar silicon via the Dow Corning process

Carbon, as a reductant for quartz, must be made available so as to have suitable reactivity in conjunction with high purity, especially with respect to boron and phosphorus. A detailed experimental plan was developed to do this. Different sources of carbon were selected to be subjected to various purification methods and reactivity-enhancement processes. A developmental scale arc furnace was installed to perform quartz-carbon reactivity testing

The Chandra Multiwavelength Project: Optical Followup of Serendipitous Chandra Sources

We present followup optical g', r', and i', imaging and spectroscopy of serendipitous X-ray sources detected in 6 archival Chandra, images included in the Chandra, Multiwavelength Project (ChaMP). Of the 486 X-ray sources detected between 3e-16 and 2e-13 (with a median flux of 3e-15 erg cm-2 s-1, we find optical counterparts for 377 (78%), or 335 (68%) counting only unique counterparts. We present spectroscopic classifications for 125 objects, representing 75% of sources with r<21 optical counterparts (63% to r=22). Of all classified objects, 63 (50%) are broad line AGN, which tend to be blue in g-r colors. X-ray information efficiently segregates these quasars from stars, which otherwise strongly overlap in these SDSS colors until z>3.5. We identify 28 sources (22%) as galaxies that show narrow emission lines, while 22 (18%) are absorption line galaxies. Eight galaxies lacking broad line emission have X-ray luminosities that require they host an AGN (logL_X>43). Half of these have hard X-ray emission suggesting that high gas columns obscure both the X-ray continuum and the broad emission line regions. We find objects in our sample that show signs of X-ray or optical absorption, or both, but with no strong evidence that these properties are coupled. ChaMP's deep X-ray and optical imaging enable multiband selection of small and/or high-redshift groups and clusters. In these 6 fields we have discovered 3 new clusters of galaxies, two with z>0.4, and one with photometric evidence that it is at a similar redshift.Comment: 38 pages, Latex, emulateapj style, including 6 tables and 22 figures. Accepted Aug 24, 2003 for publication in ApJ Supplement. See accompanying X-ray papers by Kim et al. 2003 and the ChaMP web site at http://hea-www.harvard.edu/CHAMP

Direct current, closed furnace silicon technology

The dc closed furnace technology for smelting silicon offers technical operating challenges, as well as, economic opportunities for off-gas recovery, reduced electrode consumption, reduced reductant oxidation losses, reduced energy consumption, and improved silicon recovery. The 10 mva dc closed furnace is located in East Selkirk, Manitoba. Construction of this pilot plant was started in September 1990. Following successful commissioning of the furnace in 1992, a number of smelting tests have been conducted aimed at optimization of the furnace operation and the raw material mix. The operation of a closed furnace is significantly different from an open furnace operation. The major difference being in the mechanical movement of the mix, off-gas recovery, and inability to observe the process. These differences made data collection and analysis critical in making operating decisions. This closed furnace was operated by computer control (state of the art in the smelling industry)

Silicon smelting in a closed furnace

Dow Corning has been working towards the advancement of silicon smelting in a closed furnace over the past four years. A 200 kVA closed furnace pilot plant unit was built to investigate the operating parameters for smelting silicon. The single electrode furnace is operated under totally sealed conditions. The feed from the feed hoppers is fed through air locks to the furnace. The off-gas from the furnace, consisting of by-product CO as well as volatiles from the feeds, pass through a venturi scrubber, where water is introduced to scrub out the fume from the furnace and cool the gas. The mixed scrubber water and off-gas pass into a centrifugal mist eliminator where the water and fume disengage from the gas. The fume slurry is passed through bag filters where the fume is separated from the water. The clean off-gas from the furnace was evaluated for its calorific value and evaluated for conversion to useful products. A number of silicon smelting tests were conducted during this program. Various levels of charcoal and coal mixtures were evaluated to determine the optimum mix. A low volatile coal was preferred over typical Blue Gem coal. The coal amount in the mix was maximized without compromising the smelting performance. A raw material mix consisting of 30% charcoal and 70% low volatile coal was determined to be an optimum mix for closed furnace operation. Silicon recoveries in the low nineties were demonstrated using this mix. Four quartz sources were also evaluated in the closed furnace. The closed furnace operation for silicon smelting was identified to offer significant advantages over an open furnace from the standpoint of reduced carbon oxidation losses, electrode consumption, electrical energy consumption and silicon yield improvement. Other advantages in addition to process off-gas recovery included improved safety from reduced heat and fume exposure, and improved pollution control to the environment. 1 ref

Solar silicon via the Dow Corning process : final report /

" ... This work was performed for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology by agreement between NASA and DOE.""JPL Contract No. 954559.""October 1979."Includes bibliographical references (pages 89-90).Work performed under contract no.Mode of access: Internet