silicon for the chemical and solar industry XIII

9 / 390

Silicon for the Chemical and Solar Industry XIII
Kristiansand, Norway, June 13 – 16, 2016
Carbon Neutral Metal Production –
a new environmental friendly method for production of silicon
Alf Tore Haug1), Espen Dahl1) , Therese Videm Buø1), Håvard Moe1),
Per Carlsson2), Trond Andresen2), Judit Sandquist2), Per Eilif Wahl2)
1) Elkem AS
2) SINTEF Energy Research AS
Abstract
In this work pyrolysis of biomass is investigated experimentally in order to determine
a complete mass and chemical energy balance for the main components; charcoal, gas
and condensate. The motivation for this work is to provide relevant data, which later
will be used in system studies for the next generation of Elkem silicon production
processes called Carbon Neutral Metal Production. The integrated concept, have a
potential to not only mitigate CO2 by substituting fossil coal to charcoal but also
generate new streams of income from bio-oil products. In this initial study the results
indicate that roughly 50 % of the chemical energy in the wood log can be recovered as
bio-oil. This under conditions which result in 25 % of charcoal with a fixed carbon
content of 83 %.
1