Abstract
The carbothermic reduction of silicon dioxide at high temperature was studied using a free energy minimization (FEM) program. The stability boundaries of Si(l), SiC(s), and SiO2(l), and the equilibrium compositions of the gaseous species at various pressures, temperatures, and total composition of the system have been calculated based on available thermodynamic data. At 101.325 kPa total pressure, formation of Si(l) is possible if the initial C/SiO2 ratio in the system is kept between 1 and 2.34. Above this ratio, only SiC(s) is observed. The temperature range over which only Si(l) is present in the condensed phase depends on the composition and pressure of the system. For example, at an initial C/SiO2 ratio of 1.75 and 101.325 kPa pressure, Si(l) is stable from 3080 K to 2813 K, below which SiC(s) begins to form. The possibility of producing elemental silicon using carbothermic reduction of SiO2 in a plasma reactor is discussed.
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Hutchison, S.G., Richardson, L.S. & Wai, C.M. Carbothermic reduction of silicon dioxide— a thermodynamic investigation. Metall Trans B 19, 249–253 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02654209
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02654209