About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
2027 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition
|
| Symposium
|
Next Generation Electrometallurgical Technologies for Metal Extraction, Refining, and Recycling
|
| Presentation Title |
Evidence of Silicon Production from Fluxed End-of-Life Photovoltaic Glass via Molten Oxide Electrolysis |
| Author(s) |
Muchammad Nabiel Salmanhakim, Mark I Pownceby, Chunlin Chen, Reiza Mukhlis, Bintang Nuraeni, M. Akbar Rhamdhani |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Muchammad Nabiel Salmanhakim |
| Abstract Scope |
Rapid deployment of solar photovoltaic (PV) is expected to generate substantial amount of end-of-life (EOL) PV glass composed of mainly SiO2, making it a potential feedstock as an electrolyte in molten oxide electrolysis (MOE). Optimisation of the electrolyte was investigated through thermophysical modelling and experimental verification. FactSage was used to predict the liquidus temperature and reduction potential, while empirical models were employed to estimate density, viscosity, and electrical conductivity. Na2O, CaO, Al2O3 and MgO were added to achieve the optimum electrolyte composition derived from the EOL PV glass. Experiments were conducted at 1500 °C under 5V for 8 hours. Addition of 20 wt% CaO, 5 wt% Al2O3 and 5 wt% MgO provided the optimal thermophysical properties. Electrolysis of the best electrolyte produced high-purity silicon droplets up to 2.4 mm in diameter with separate Si-Ti-Fe and Si-Al-Ca intermetallic. These findings demonstrate the feasibility of producing low-carbon silicon from EOL PV glass. |
| Proceedings Inclusion? |
Planned: |
| Keywords |
Electrometallurgy, Recycling and Secondary Recovery, Modeling and Simulation |