NCKU Professor Develops Technology to Turn Silicon Waste for Steel Production
March 31 2015 - 5:37AM
Business Wire
Solar power is a clean alternative energy; however, the silicon
sludge will be generated from the silicon crystal slicing process
inevitably. Professor Wei-Sheng Chen from the Department of
Resources Engineering in National Cheng Kung University (NCKU),
Tainan, Taiwan, has developed a technique to recover reusable
silicon and silicon carbide from waste sludge.
By transforming silicon sludge to usable raw material for steel
industry, this newly introduced recycling technique not only
answers the question of industrial waste disposal, but also leads
to a resources circulation and cheaper raw materials for steel
industrial, according to Chen.
The recycling-based technique is patented in Taiwan, and its
technology transfer was completed at the end of last year, so the
technique is now being applied in the iron and steel industry.
As conventional solid waste treatment is extremely costly and
technically complex, it has been abandoned by the majority of waste
disposal and treatment companies.
However, during the past three years, NCKU has made great
breakthroughs in the separation and purification technologies.
Now, Silicon and silicon carbide can be effectively sorted out
and the products can be used as raw materials by the ceramics,
glass, refractory and iron and steel industries.
According to Chen, Taiwan’s solar power industry is flourishing,
which results in the production of plenty of industrial waste; this
in turn means that there is a great supply of silicon and silicon
sludge through the utilization of the technique.
He adds that, though the previously mentioned industries may all
use silicon and silicon carbide as raw materials, because the
overall amount is limited, the best destination should be the iron
and steel industry, which has a huge demand.
Chen also said that because silicon-based solar panels contain a
variety of other materials, its purification and extraction
technique requires a higher order.
Additionally, the semiconductor fab manufacturing process will
also produce large amounts of silicon sludge, because it does not
contaminate with grinding media, its recycling procedure is
relatively simpler.
Chen said, once the silicon resource recycling model is fully
established in Taiwan, not only would it help silicon resource
conservation and environmental benefits, both solar and
semiconductor fab manufacturing industries need no longer worry
about the disposal of silicon sludge.
National Cheng Kung UniversityNews CenterSonia Chuang,
+886-6-275-7575 ext. 50042sonia20@mail.ncku.edu.tw