EARTH

[21001-14-08] Industrial Grade Silicon Technology in Thailand

○Somsak Saisinchai¹, Apisit Numprasanthai¹, Raphael Bissen¹ (1. Chulalongkorn University)

Chairman：Somsak Saisinchai （Chulalongkorn University）, Carlito Tabelin (Hokkaido University)

Keywords:quartz, optical sorting, industrial-grade silicon, electric arc furnace, silica powder

This article is a production narrative. Industrial-grade silicon from quartz, the second most abundant mineral in the continental crust. The production process consists of three main parts: 1. Quartz mining including drilling, blasting, loading and hauling, 2. Processing comprising crushing, screening hand and optical sorting, 3. Smelting, redox reaction of quartz with carbon in an electric arc furnace at temperatures of 1,400-1,600 ^oC for 3-4 hours. The liquid silicon is then poured into a cooled template, left to cool for 16 hours, then submerged, and in the finally sized according to market demand. The hot air from the furnace runs through a high iron pipe to reduce the temperature before entering a filter system for dust removal. The product can be obtained in the form of fine silica powder.