Arc heater production of silicon involving alkali or alkaline-earth metals

Claim 1

A process for producing the high purity silicon comprising the steps of: (a) halogenating a silica-bearing material to produce a halide of silicon, (b) providing an arc heater having spaced generally hollow, cylindrical electrodes forming an arc chamber communicating with a reaction chamber, (c) striking an electric arc in an axial gap between the electrodes, (d) introducing an arc gas selected from the group consisting of an inert gas, hydrogen, carbon monoxide or a mixture thereof through the gap to provide an elongated arc stream extending into the reaction chamber, (e) feeding into the arc stream a quantity of a metal reductant selected from the group consisting of an alkali metal and an alkaline-earth metal, (f) feeding into the arc stream a quantity of silicon halide to react with the metal reductant to produce reaction products including liquid silicon and a salt of the metal reductant, (g) projecting the reaction products into the reaction chamber tangentially to cause the liquid silicon to separate centrifugally from the salt, and (h) depositing the liquid silicon on a downwardly extending surface to permit the liquid silicon to flow into an associated receptacle.