Combined XRD and XRF Technique for the Quantification of the Mass Balance in a Si Carbothermic Production Experiment

Abstract

The production of metallurgical grade silicon is based on carbothermic reduction of silica in the submerged arc-furnace. Small scale silicon production experiments have been performed aiming at investigating the kinetics and the reaction mechanisms occuring in the furnace. This paper describes a new combined quantitative technique for the analysis of reaction products from silicon experiments. The method is based on a combination of XRD and XRF techniques and can be used to estimate the total phase mass balance in silicon experiments.