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By Xuling Chen, Yi Wang, Xiaohui Fan

"The current control method of grate-kiln iron ore oxide pellet production is lack of accuracy and normalization due to the limited detection conditions. Therefore, mathematical models of grate-kiln temperature field are presented. With calculation of gas-particle heat transfer as well as enthalpy changes of moisture evaporation and magnetite oxidation, the thermal history of pellets throughout grate-kiln process can be acquired and used for production status estimation. Taking the calculated results as well as detected data in production as inputs, process parameters such as running speed, fan opening and coal injection rate as adjusting objects, expert system for grate-kiln pellet production is outlined. And the preheating section dominated control strategy is explained. Results of production application show that the stability rate of gas temperature in gas hood of preheating section is increased from 91.0% to 94.2%, compressive strength and first grade rate of pellet are increased by 3.62% and 2.36%, respectively, while FeO content is 18.18% lower. Control guidance of this expert system can solve production anomalies effectively, stabilize grate-kiln iron ore oxide pellet production and improve pellet quality.IntroductionSteel industry in China has developed rapidly in recent years. China’s crude steel production in 2010 is nearly 627 million, which is 44.2% of the world total production. Burden with higher quality is demanded by enlargement and modernization of blast furnaces. And oxide pellet production has become a growing concern. In 2010, the total production of pellet in China is 110 million, and about 60% is produced by grate-kiln process."

Jan 1, 2012

By T. Ranki-Kilpinen

In the flash smelting technique, developed by Outokumpu Oyj, off-gases with dust load are directed into the heat recovery boiler (HRB). As the temperature decreases, metallic sulphates become thermodynamically stable. Sulphation of oxidic particles initiates. The release of heat causes an increase in particle temperatures, and soft sulphated particles can stick to the heat transfer surfaces. Dust accretion may form and cause operational problems. The objectives of the project are to study sulphation reaction mechanisms and kinetics of flue- dust particles under HRB conditions, and get more information for the flue-dust treatment possibilities. The sulphation behaviour of synthetic Cu2O particles (37-53 pm) was studied using a fluid-bed reactor of laboratory scale. The experimental parameters in the latest campaign were oxygen and sulphur dioxide contents of 2.5-10 vol-% 02 and 40-60 vol-% SO2 respectively and temperatures of 600-660°C. Samples were examined microscopically (SEM+EDS) and chemical analysis were conducted. The sulphation rate was found to have a maximum at the certain temperature, which was dependent on the gas SO2 content. Regardless of the level of SO2, a rise in oxygen content promoted sulphate formation.

Jan 1, 2002

By Jorge A. S. Tenorio, Chuanwei Zhuo, Joner O. Alves, Yiannis A. Levendis

"The ever increasing number of automobiles and the consequential increase in consumption of tires have generated a pressing environmental issue, concerning the disposal of unserviceable tires. The worldwide disposed of waste tires is approximately 1 billion units per year and this amount is expected to increase by 2% each year. This work presents a microstructural characterization of nanomaterials synthesized in a catalyst system from the effluent of burning waste tire chips in a horizontal two-stage laminar-flow furnace. Controlled combustion of waste tire chips took place at temperatures of 900 or 1000 °C, and stainless steel meshes were used to synthesize the nanomaterials at 1000°C. Produced materials were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The catalyst meshes were covered by materials with diameters of 20 to 200 nm and lengths of about 40 µm. They possessed structures similar to those of carbon nanotubes.IntroductionThe motor vehicles on the road have been increasing annually. World motor vehicle production in 2009 approached 62 million units. Consequently, the consumption of tires has also been on the rise; about 1.4 billion units were produced around the world in 2007 [l]. The disposal of scrap tires is a serious environmental problem. The worldwide disposed of waste tires is almost 1 billion units per year with an expected increase of around 2% each year. However, less than 7% of produced waste tires are recycled (excluding reuse, retreading or incineration). The waste rubber tires are a thermoset polymer, which cannot be reprocessed like thermoplastics polymers, therefore the recycling of this material requires special techniques that demand big investments [2, 3].A solution to the disposal of waste tires is the sequential pyrolysis/combustion process. Past research showed that waste tires are an attractive potential fuel due the high heating value (29-3 7 MJ/kg), which is comparable, or even higher to those of typical bituminous coals [ 4, 5]. Pyrolysis is a process wherein the material is thermally decomposed at elevated temperatures at the absence of an oxidizing gas. Combustion is characterized by the addition of the oxidizing gases during the process. Several studies indicate that the pyrolysis and combustion processes for the tires treatment have a great energy conversion potential [4, 5, 6]."

Jan 1, 2011

By D. A. Horne, V. R. Daiga

Certain steel mill wastes contain significant amounts of zinc oxide due to the use of galvanized scrap during the steel making process. Typically electric arc furnace (EAF), and basic oxygen process (BOP) flue dusts contain 20 to 30% zinc oxide and 40 to 50% iron oxides, along with smaller quantities of lead and cadmium. These materials can be recovered from the flue dusts by using a proven rotary hearth furnace (RHF) process. By-products of the recycling operation include a crude zinc oxide fume, which is captured in a baghouse filtering system, and sponge iron that may be recycled into the steel making operation. Crude zinc oxide properties plus the operating experience from two commercial RHF installations utilizing MR&E's DRyIron™ Process will be presented.

Jan 1, 2000

By Marco Antônio Siqueira Rodrigues

The possibilities for treating rinse waters fiom chromating bath by electrodialysis are discussed together with the possibilities of optimizing the treatment process for waste reduction and reuse of water and chemical products. An industrial effluent with 4600 ppm of Cr(VI), besides other metallic contamination, was used as work solution. This solution has been recirculated on an electrodialysis cell of three compartments, using exchange membranes Selemiom AMT and CMT. A migration of dichromate ions into the anodic compartment was obtained, so that an extraction of circa 99.9 % of Cr(VI) present on the solution was observed, resulting in water with a Cr(V[) concentration of 4 rnd. These results show that electrodialysis can be used to treat these effluents, and this water could be reused as rinse water. The solution of the anodic compartment, consisting at the beginning of the experiment of H2S04, 0.1 N, reached 7200 mg/l of Cr(VI). This concentrate could be reused on the chromating bath itself.

Jan 1, 1999

By Katsunori Yamaguchi

Secondary materials, that contain relatively high concentrations of platinum group metals, (PGMs) are treated in copper smelting process. The PGMs lost in the slag is increasing with increasing quantities of scrap treated amount. To determine the portion of the PGMs chemically dissolved and that associated with the mechanically trapped matte in the slag will be a key factor to improve the recovery of those metals. An experimental study was carried out to determine the distribution of palladium between the FeOx–SiO2 slag and the liquid Cu2S–FeS matte at 1573 K and a fixed partial pressure of SO2 of 0.1 atm. It was found that the distribution ratios are around 10−3 for platinum and palladium. The distribution ratios show a tendency to increase when the grade of matte is increased above 60 mass% Cu. In addition, the solubility of platinum in FeOx–SiO2 slag equilibrated with a pure palladium and the Pd-Cu alloy was determined at 1573 K and the range of oxygen partial pressure from 10−9 to 10−7 atm. The solubility of palladium in the slag tends to increase with increasing oxygen partial pressure and activity of CuO0.5 in the slag.

By Upali Siriwardane, Tushar V. Kudale, Naidu V. Seetala

"Cellulose acetate (CA) membranes with 25% triethyl citrate (TEC) as plasticizer were prepared with varying thickness for CO2 gas separation from water-gas-shift (WGS) reaction products. The AFM analysis of the CA membrane showed that the uniform coating had fewer and smaller pores as the film thickness increased, and corroborated by gas permeability studies. The CO2 permeability has decreased faster than CO permeability with the CA/TEC membrane thickness, and findings support that the CA membrane could be used to entrap CO2. Several CA/TEC membranes were also staked to increase the separation efficiency. Positron Annihilation Lifetime Spectroscopy (PALS) was used to estimate the nano-porosity (pore size and concentration) changes of CA/TEC films. PALS results show a decrease in pore size with increasing CA-TEC concentration in acetone, while the pore concentration increases. The PALS results are correlated with the CO2/CO permeability variations as the CA-TEC concentration change.IntroductionHydrogen is one of the main energy sources available for the future advancement of clean fuel technologies especially for fuel cells. Generation of hydrogen and CO2 from Water Gas Shift (WGS) reaction mixtures of CO and H2O is of interest to many researchers since it allows a large scale production of hydrogen [1, 2]. Once hydrogen is produced using the WGS reaction, the output products contain mixture of CO, CO2, H2, and water vapor. Metallic membranes have been used as hydrogen separation membranes [3-6]. As H2 is separated from the mixture using the metal membranes, we need to separate CO2, and find ways of sequestration of CO2 to avoid environmental problems by greenhouse gasses. Polymeric Membranes have been used for CO2 separation [7]. Plasticizer can control the micro-structural properties such as pore size and concentration of polymer membranes [8], which influence the size/molecular weight dependent diffusion rates of the gas molecules. We have used cellulose acetate with triethyl citrate as plasticizer to separate CO2 from the WGS reaction products. Positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy (PALS) is very sensitive and able to identify different kinds of defects and their agglomerates such as vacancies, vacancy loops, and voids [9, 10]. PALS has been successful in determining the free volume in polymers that influence the properties of the polymers [11, 12]. Microscopic properties of the free volume obtained from PALS have been correlated to macroscopic properties [13, 14]. We used PALS to study the nanoporosity (pore size and concentration) and fractional free volume changes of CA/TEC films, and used to understand the variations observed in the CO2/CO permeability as the CA-TEC concentration in the membranes change."

Jan 1, 2014

By Jr. Langhans, J. S. McPartland

"The presence of zinc in cyanide solutions is generally thought to not have an adverse effect on precious metal recovery or recovery rate by heap leach processing. However, analytical interferences of zinc in solution can cause problems in accurately determining and controlling cyanide concentration in the leach solution, leading to increased cyanide consumption. Analytical methods and the chemistry of cyanide in the presence of zinc are reviewed. The effects of solution pH and zinc concentration on the free cyanide determination were evaluated in detail. Use of the standard silver nitrate titration and a modified titration method for controlling cyanide concentration during heap leaching were investigated experimentally. The practical implications of cyanide heap leaching in the presence of cyanide soluble zinc minerals are discussed.IntroductionThe presence of zinc in precious metal cyanidation circuits is not uncommon. Zinc can be introduced into cyanide leach solutions through dissolution of various zinc minerals1>, or through the use of a Merrill Crowe (zinc precipitation) circuit. Zinc minerals typically occur infrequently and in low concentration in gold ores, but are more abundant in silver ores. Merrill Crowe systems are most commonly employed for recovery of precious metals from solution for relatively high silver ores. It is desirable to control the amount of dissolved zinc in a cyanidation circuit for several reasons. Excessive zinc build-up in cyanide leach solution can, under certain circumstances, inhibit precious metal dissolution and adversely affect solution recovery systems. Additionally, high zinc concentrations can lead to excessive in-process cyanide inventories and potentially, to higher cyanide consumption"

Jan 1, 1999

By Jilai Xue, Jun Zhu, Baisong Li

"TiB2-C/C Function Gradient Materials (FGM) is used in cathode materials to improve aluminum wettability and melt penetration in aluminum electrolysis. In this investigation, FGM was tested for use as part of the cathode materials, where a 10 mm thick TiB2-rich layer was on the top as an Al-wettable surface, the TiB2-C layers in the middle as a gradient layer and the carbon on the bottom as a base. Electrical resistances ofFGM were determined in the temperature range of25- 9600C in argon atmosphere. The results show that the present of TiB2-C gradient layer can reduce the open porosity and the electrical resistance of the cathodes materials at elevated temperatures. The cathode samples after aluminum electrolysis usually demonstrates an increase in electrical resistance, but the application of FGM layer can compensate such an increase for certain extend due to less variation in porosity and lower the level of melts penetration.IntroductionCarbon is still used for aluminum reduction cathodes dominantly, but it has a poor wetting properties by liquid aluminum and the anode-cathode distance has to be kept about 4-5cm with an additional 1.3-2.0 V voltage drop [l]. TiB2 has better wettability by liquid aluminum with higher electrical conductivity and stronger chemical resistance to the electrolyte attack. And the wettability ofTiB2-C composites cathode on liquid aluminum can be also improved, while liquid aluminum can completely wet the cathode surface ifTiB2 content exceeds 27% [2-4]. However, during the process of TiB2-C composites cathodes preparation and aluminum electrolysis, the deformation by temperature variation or sodium penetration are great disparity between TiB2 and carbon due to their physical properties difference. This will accelerate the cathodes cracking and deterioration."

Jan 1, 2013

By Aiyuan Ma, Tu Hu, Chenyu Sun, Yonggang Zuo, Hongying Xia, Jinhui Peng, Libo Zhang, Yongguang Luo

"In this study, the adsorption characteristics of tannin acid in aqueous solution were investigated using regenerated activated carbon (AC), with the aim to remove the tannin acid organic matter from the solution after zinc hydrometallurgy and Ge precipitation. Results showed the temperature has little effect on the adsorption ability (q.) of the regenerated activated carbon. The experimental equilibrium data were tested for the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms. The adsorption equilibrium was better described by the Langmuir isotherm (R2 > 0.99). Pseudo first- and second-order kinetic models were used for describing kinetic data. It was determined that the kinetics of tannin acid removal was well fitted by second-order reaction.IntroductionGermanium recovery is a complex processes [1]. Hydrometallurgical processes are favoured and these are based on the precipitation of germanium as hydroxide or sulphide or alternately with tannic acid [2]. However, in the germanium recovery process, too much tannin is consumed by the germanium-tannins complexation process, and results in a high content of tannic acid remaining in solution, which is harmful to the valuable metal recovery [3]."

Jan 1, 2014

By Guiming Yang, Xiaoxian Huang, Zhiyun Ji, Min Gan, Lishun Yuan, Xiaohui Fan, Zhiyuan Yu

"The roasting characteristics of hematite pellets containing MgO were studied where magnesia powder, serpentine and magnesite were used as magnesium-additives respectively. The mechanical strength of both preheated and roasted pellets decreased when MgO content increased, which implied the addition of MgO had an adverse effect on pellet consolidation. By adding flux containing CaO, the mechanical strength of both preheated and roasted pellets were improved. The addition of calcium flux facilitated the formation of calcium ferrite and provided a certain amount of liquid phase, resulting in faster diffusion ofMg2+ and Fe3+. The result showed that diffusing speed of Mg2+ was enhanced by 1.48 times, and rate constant of Fe203 crystalline growth was enhanced by 62% when basicity was around 0.4. Improvement of mineralization degree and recrystallization of Fe203 assisted in consolidation of hematite pellets containing MgO.IntroductionOxidized pellets are ideal iron-bearing burdens in blast furnace. At present, magnetite is the main raw material for oxidized pellet production in China. However, as the rapid development of iron and steel industry, resources of magnetite have been depleted and cannot satisfy the requirement of pellet production. Using hematite concentrates to produce oxidized pellets has become a trend [1, 2]. Many pellet enterprises abroad nowadays have adopted high proportions of hematite concentrates when producing oxidized pellets, e.g. the percentage is 100% in a lot of Brazilian factories [3, 4]. But high proportion of hematite concentrates will lead to low mechanical strength and high reduction swelling index of pellets. Some studies show that Mg-bearing pellets have excellent metallurgical properties, and the reduction swelling phenomenon can be solved by adding fluxes containing MgO [5, 7]. However, there are problems such as low pellet strength and bad roasting characteristics for MgO-bearing pellets, which remains an obstacle in pellet industry. Hence, it's vital to undertake the study on strengthening measures for indurations of Mg-bearing hematite pellets."

Jan 1, 2013

The paper describes the propensity of tin to form intermetallic compounds with microalloying elements such as Nb, Ti and aluminium, which are commonly used as additions to achieve particular combination of strength and toughness. Two series of alloys were prepared by arc melting under an argon atmosphere. Each series was based on Fe, Sn and A1 with either Nb or Ti additions. The microstructures were studied using scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and microprobe analysis. It was found that the level of Nb addition has an effect on the formation of Sn-rich compounds. For small Nb additions, no Sn containing compounds were found, whereas in higher Nb alloy, a Laves phase (FezNb, hexagonal, a = 0.4830 nm and c = 0.7879 nm) containing about 1 at % Sn was found. A FezNb3 phase (cubic, a = 1.1261 nm) associated with the formation of alumina was also found but did not contain tin. No Sn containing compounds were found with Ti additions. The experimental observations have been compared with thermodynamic calculations performed using MTDATA.

Jan 1, 1999

By James Vaughan

Ionic liquids are solvents of interest for applications such as electro- plating, winning and refining of metals. Of particular interest is the possibility of processing reactive metals such as aluminium, magnesium and titanium that cannot be deposited from aqueous solutions. Aluminium has been electro deposited from AlCl3 : ionic liquid mixtures at low temperatures relative to conventional Hall-Héroult smelting. Imidazolium ionic liquids are have been used in the past due to their relatively high ionic conductivity and cation stability. The less studied and less expensive phosphonium ionic liquids systems may provide a viable alternative to imidazolium ionic liquids for certain applications. New information regarding the physical properties and electrochemical behaviour of phosphonium ionic liquid systems is presented.

Jan 1, 2006

By Donghai Li, Cheng Pan, Xuewei Lv, Mei Liu, Enguang Guo

"Phosphorite is the main raw material for the production of phosphorus in chemical industry. More attentions have been drawn to the phosphorite concentrate beneficiated from low-grade phosphorite due to the decrease of high-grade phosphorite. For another, the agglomeration process is necessary for the phosphorite concentrate after beneficiation process. The mineralogy and sintering process of the phosphorite from Leshan, China were studied in this work. The result shows that the main phases in the phosphorite are fluorapatite (Ca3(P04)3F), hydroxylapatite (Cas(P04)3(0H)), quartz (Si02) and dolomite (CaMg(C03)2). The yield of the sinter increases with increasing the carbon dosage to 7%, and then decreases when it continuously increases. Similar regularities were found for the strength and the content of P20s of the sinter. The best strength of the sinter as well as its P205 content were discovered when the carbon dosage is 7%. Fluorapatite ((Ca5(P04)3)F) is the main phase in the sinter while fuggerite (Ca2MgSiz01) is the main binder phase.IntroductionPhosphorus is an important foundation industrial raw material of national defense industry, food industry and chemical industry, where it is used to produce red phosphorus, phosphonium hydroxide, phosphorus pentasulfide and phosphoric anhydride[l-2]."

Jan 1, 2013

By Chengyi Ding, Xuewei Lv, Changyang Ji, Rende Zhang, Xiangwei Zheng

Inexpensive and high-quality sinter has an extraordinary position in iron making, and there are many factors influencing the sintering. This research takes the basicity and coal dosage as research subjects to do the experiments based on cost analysis with sinter pot experiment system. Linear program is taken to make the schemes of ore blending. During the experiments of changing basicity from 1.6 to 2.3, the properties and microstructures of the sinter are studied. It comes to a conclusion that increasing the basicity is beneficial to sinter quality but leads to higher cost. To further ascertain the cost of sinter and the potential of saving coke, the work of improving coal dosage is taken on the basis of experiments of changing basicity. Through analyzing the results, a formula (Y=1849+261.1R-130.6C) is proposed which indicates the relation among the cost, basicity and fixed carbon content. And it works well for actual production.

Jan 1, 2015

By Mark Cross, Diane McBride, Nick Croft

Extractive metallurgical processes rate amongst the most complex from the perspective of computational modeling. They typically involve multi-phase and multi-component fluid flow in very complex geometries, heat transfer driven by a number of interacting phenomena, solidliquid- gaseous phase change and mass transfer together with complex thermodynamics and associated chemical reactions. Beyond the model building itself, key challenges have always involved being able to identify the phenomena present together with interactions to characterize processes and experimental laboratory and plant data to parameterize the arising models – it is in this milieu, which require considerable process understanding and subtlety of thought, that David Robertson has made his contributions. We will review the achievements, over the last couple of decades, in computational modeling of extractive metallurgical processes and address some of the remaining challenges to enable simulation based process design, as we move through the 21st century.

Jan 1, 2014

By Wei Yu, Tiejun Chun, Jian Pan, Deqing Zhu

In this paper, improving the pelletization of Brazilian hematite by adding a boron bearing additive was carried out, and the pelletization parameters were also optimized. The mechanism of boron bearing additive was revealed in the kinetics of crystal grain growth by using LEICA microscopy and its software to measure hematite grain growth. Good qualities of green balls are manufactured with drop numbers above 5.7 times/0.5m, compressive strength higher than 13 N/pellet and thermal shock temperature over 620? under the following conditions: 1.2wt% bentonite, 0.4wt% boron bearing additive, 7wt% moisture and pelletizing in disc for 15 min. When the green balls were preheated at 1000? for 8 min and fired at 1280? for 15 min, the compressive strength of the fired pellets containing boron bearing additive is about 3096 N/pellet, which is far beyond the standard requirement for good quality pellets. Compared to the fired pellets without adding any boron bearing additives, the compressive strength of fired pellets containing boron bearing additive is increased by 1225 N/pellet. It is revealed that adding boron additive into the hematite pellets help to form more liquid phases, lower the activation energy of the hematite grain growth by 135.2 kJ/mol and increase grain growth rate by 33.6%, leading to higher strength of fired pellets due to forming more coarse and dense recrystallized hematite and energy saving by firing at lower temperatures for shorten time.

Jan 1, 2011

By Zhucheng Huang, Ronghai ZHONG, Tao Jiang, Jun ZOU

The method of reduction roasting and magnetic separation of low-grade, micro- fine disseminated refractory iron ore following granulation with coal produced unexpected success. Pellets of iron ore with diameter between 3 and 8mm were granulated with coal, bentonite and water. The raw pellets and reduction products were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy and x-ray diffraction. Results show uniformly distributed coal powders inside the pellets improved the kinetics of the reduction process and accelerated the reduction rate. Reduction time was higher at temperatures below 890℃, which resulted in the formation of substantial amounts of fayalite. When temperature was increased, micro- fine hematite was then quickly reduced to iron metal and the amount of fayalite decreased sharply. When pellets were reduced at 950℃ for 25min, reduction products with 56.73% metallization rate were obtained. After grinding and magnetic separation, a concentrate with 72.18% Fetot was obtained.

Jan 1, 2015

By C. Acuna

The standard procedure of fire refining consists of sulphur removal via air injected through tuyeres, arsenic slagging via soda-lime flux and oxygen reduction by air or oxygen deficient air or a steam fuel mixtures. The use of porous plugs to stir with an inert gas has been mainly considered as a surface renewing agent that increases the product quality and shorten the refining cycle. In the present study the effect of the bottom stirring by nitrogen gas injection through porous plugs for the treatment of the crude copper in the range of 400-150 ppm sulphur, 3,000?2,000 ppm arsenic and 14,000-7,000 ppm oxygen content was investigated. The combined effect stirring-reducing, by the use of air or a steam fuel mixtures through tuyeres for oxygen removal, follows a kinetics of first order where the constant, K, can be represented by the following polynomial expression: K = A .* R2 + B * R + C Where A, Band C are constants that depend on the nitrogen flow rate and R is the air-fuel ratio or the steam-fuel used in the reducing step. Depending on the optimization of the flow of nitrogen and the air-fuel or steam-fuel mixture and only if just the oxidation, complexing and reducing steps are considered, the process cycle might be shortened by 45%.

Jan 1, 2003

By Shilai Yuan, Huimin Lu, Liyuan Zhao, Zhijiang Gao

"A purification process was developed to removal impurity element boron from metallurgical grade silicon by electromagnetic induction slag melting. Vacuum melting furnace was used to purify boron in both Al2O3-MgO-CaO-SiO2 slag system and Al2O3-CaO-SiO2 slag system. The relationship between different slag chemistry and the removal of boron in silicon were studied using Back Propagation (BP) Neural Network model. The best slag chemistry for the removal of boron was predicted by Genetic Algorithm (GA) contributed by the use of Matlab. The results show that the mass fraction of Boron in silicon is reduced from 11.7496×10-6 to 2.3259×10-6 after slag melting in 28.96%Al2O3-3.43%MgO-36.24%CaO-31.37%SiO2 slag system. The relative error obtained with GA-BP Neural Network model was below 0.35%.IntroductionSolar energy, due to its low green house gas emissions, has been paid great attention. Accordingly, the demand for solar grade silicon (SoG-Si) has been growing rapidly. The quest for developing a low-cost method of producing SoG-Si has been moving forward in the last decade. Refining of metallurgical-grade silicon (MG-Si) attracts research interest due to its low material and energy costs, and more environmentally friendly technology in comparison to the traditional Simens process. As such, impurity elements in MG-Si must be removed to low levels for the photovoltaics (PV) cell to operate at optimum efficiency. Most impurities in metallurgical-grade silicon (MG-Si), especially metal elements, can be separated by directional solidification and the zone refining plasma-arc method [1, 2]. The main focus in refining MG-Si to SoG-Si is on the impurities which are the most difficult to remove. Boron has relatively high segregation coefficients (KB=0.8, concentration of Boron in solid silicon divided by its concentration in liquid silicon) [3] and higher vapor tension (the saturated vapor pressure of boron and silicon are 6.78×10-7 Pa and 0.4 Pa, respectively). The vacuum melting and directional solidification methods hence have no effects on boron removal.Slag refining involves melting MG-Si in the presence of a flux to produce a slag phase that can take up the impurity elements. The mechanism of slag refining is considered to include two main steps: the oxidation of boron and the absorption of boron oxide by slag materials. The oxidation of boron, described by the oxygen potential (PO2), resulting from the equilibrium Si and SiO2. The absorption of boron oxide, described as the slag basicity, is interpreted as expected to facilitate their extraction to alkali and alkali-earth oxides in the slag phase. Thus, effective removal may be obtained for a certain slag composition. Researchers [4-5] examined the effect of boron removal in CaO-SiO2 based ternary systems and showed that the addition of excess CaO can decrease the activity of SiO2. Researchers [6-8] studied the boron behaviors in CaO-SiO2-Al2O3, CaO-SiO2-Na2O, Al2O3-BaO-SiO2, CaO-SiO2-Li2O and Al2O3-CaO-MgO-SiO2 slag systems by adding boron in the silicon to a degree. Li2O, Na2O, MgO and BaO are thought to be associated with B2O3."

Jan 1, 2014