SBIR Phase I: Low-cost clean one-step production of solar silicon from natural quartzite

SBIR 第一阶段：利用天然石英岩低成本清洁一步法生产太阳能硅

• 批准号: 2052310
• 负责人: MOHAMMAD ASADIKIYA
• 金额: $ 25.57万
• 依托单位: SILARTEK LLC
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-05-01 至 2023-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2052310&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; Low; cost; clean

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will be the reduction of silicon in PV modules from 4¢/W to 0.8-1¢/W. Besides considerable silicon price reduction, this novel technology removes currently presented safety and environmental concerns of silicon production. Decreasing the total PV module cost will improve access to solar cells, through which the overall consumption of fossil fuels could be reduced. Moreover, since this novel technology is zero direct GHG emission, replacing the current manufacturing processes with our new technology can positively affect the environment directly and immediately. This project will also advance the state-of-the-art in silicon manufacturing and provide a domestic source of PV quality silicon.This project aims to develop a new molten salt electrolysis process which can produce solar silicon from natural 99.7-99.9% pure quartzite (SiO₂) in just two steps, replacing a complex energy-intensive five-step process today. This process utilizes a state-of-the-art molten salt composition with a new mechanism for suppressing dendrite formation and salt trapping. This process can potentially produce silicon with 4-5N purity at $1.70/kg using 30 kWh/kg, with pure oxygen by-product and zero direct Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. The 4-5N product purity would be sufficient for directional solidification or direct boule/wafer production, resulting in $2.20-2.70/kg solar-grade silicon cost, i.e., 75-80% lower than today. This purity through the novel process is achievable via electrochemical selection, an inert anode to avoid carbon anode contamination, and low impurity solubility in the solid silicon product. The technical issues/risks to be addressed in this proposal are salt trapping to practically produce dense and pure product, removing more electronegative impurities (P, Fe) that cause problems with carrier lifetimes, and utilizing magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) stirring to overcome stagnant electrolyte bath.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

这项小型企业创新研究（SBIR）I期项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力将是PV模块中的硅从4¢/W减少到0.8-1¢/w。除了大量的硅价格降低外，这项新型技术还消除了目前提出的硅生产的安全性和环境问题。降低总PV模块成本将改善对太阳能电池的访问，从而可以减少化石燃料的整体消费。此外，由于这项新型技术是零直接温室气体排放，因此用我们的新技术代替当前的制造过程可以直接和直接影响环境。该项目还将推进硅制造业的最先进，并提供PV质量硅的国内来源。本项目旨在开发一种新的熔融盐电解过程，该过程可以从Hittary 99.7-99.9％纯石英岩（Sio₂）中生产太阳硅，仅在两步中替换了一个复杂的能源五步的五步过程。该过程利用了最先进的熔融盐成分，其新机制可抑制树突形成和盐诱捕。此过程可能会使用30 kWh/kg的含量为$ 1.70/kg，并具有4-5N纯度的硅，并具有纯氧副产品和零直接温室气体（GHG）的排放。 4-5N产品纯度将改善直接固化或直接晶片/晶圆生产，导致$ 2.20-2.70/kg太阳能级硅成本，即比今天低75-80％。通过电化学选择，避免碳阳极污染的惰性阳极以及固体硅产品中的杂质溶解度低的惰性阳极可以实现。该提案中要解决的技术问题/风险是盐捕集以实际生产致密和纯净的产品，消除更多的电力杂质（P，FE），导致载载生寿命的问题，并消除了磁性水力动力学（MHD），并利用降低的启发性，以反映nsf的宣传，并以此为基础。优点和更广泛的影响审查标准。