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Mechanism of Enhancing Phosphorus Removal from Metallurgical Grade Silicon by Si-Fe-Ti Phase Reconstruction

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Abstract

Metallurgical grade silicon (MG-Si) contains iron (Fe) as its main impurity, where phosphorus (P) is occasionally enriched in the FeSi2Ti phase. Based on this phenomenon, the precipitation superiority of P in the silicon-iron-titanium (Si-Fe-Ti) phase was verified by Si-5Fe and Si-3Fe-2Ti (wt pct) alloy refining for MG-Si. Microscopic characterization showed that P enrichment in the Si-Fe-Ti phase was more than in the Si-Fe phase. Thermodynamically, FeTiP phase is more stable than Fe3P. Dynamically, Fe and Ti will increase the solubility of each other in the melt because the activity interaction coefficient of Fe and Ti is 5.7027. Therefore, during the solidification of the Si-Fe-Ti melt, the enhanced precipitation of Fe and Ti promotes the formation and co-precipitation of the Si-Fe-Ti and FeTiP phases. With acid leaching, the phosphorus removal efficiencies from MG-Si, the Si-Fe alloy, and Si-Fe-Ti alloy were 12.33, 39.15, and 71.20 pct, respectively, which again verify the distribution characteristics of P in different samples and its mechanistic analysis.

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Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge that this study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.U1902219), the funding of the Yunnan Young and Middle-aged Academic and Technical Leader Reserve Talent Project (No. 2018HB009), and the Major Science and Technology Projects in Yunnan Province (No. 2019ZE007).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Engineering Laboratory for Vacuum Metallurgy, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, 650093, P.R. China

    Xiaocong Deng, Sheng Li, Jianhua Wen, Kuixian Wei & Wenhui Ma

  2. Key Laboratory (MOST) of Clean Utilization in Complex Non-ferrous Metal Resources, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, 650093, P.R. China

    Kuixian Wei & Wenhui Ma

  3. Yunnan Energy Research Institute Co. Ltd, Kunming, 650599, P.R. China

    Mingyu Zhang & Xi Yang

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  1. Xiaocong Deng
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  2. Sheng Li
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Correspondence to Kuixian Wei or Wenhui Ma.

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Manuscript submitted April 27, 2020; accepted October 31, 2020.

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Deng, X., Li, S., Wen, J. et al. Mechanism of Enhancing Phosphorus Removal from Metallurgical Grade Silicon by Si-Fe-Ti Phase Reconstruction. Metall Mater Trans B 52, 625–632 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11663-020-02028-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11663-020-02028-y

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