Metal-slag-gas Interaction and the Kinetic Behavior of Ca and Al in Refining of Silicon

The typical industrial production route for metallurgical silicon consists of carbothermic reduction of quartz in an electric arch furnace. Refining is then preformed to control the amount of impurities in the final product. My project looks at oxidative ladle refining of silicon, and aims to describe and model the mass transfer of the primary slag forming impurities, Al and Ca.

This is to be done by constructing a mathematical framework based on the theory that is already known, and conducting experiments to fill in the gaps.

Resource Group: Professor Gabriella Tranell (NTNU), Lars Jakobssen (Elkem), Vegard Andersen (Elkem)

Contact: erlend.l.bjornstad@ntnu.no