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    Home > Chemicals Industry > Chemical Technology > Material "crystal", natural selection "silicon" is innovating-China Chemical Hualu independently developed polysilicon technology to lead the industry development documentary

    Material "crystal", natural selection "silicon" is innovating-China Chemical Hualu independently developed polysilicon technology to lead the industry development documentary

    • Last Update: 2021-07-28
    • Source: Internet
    • Author: User
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    The picture shows the office building of Hualu Company
    .


    (Photo provided by the enterprise)
    The picture shows the office building of Hualu Company


    From being blocked by foreign technology to self-innovating to fill the domestic gap, to now the technology is leading the world and exporting abroad, Hualu has gone through 15 years of diligent research and exploration, and has embarked on a road of independent innovation in the key core technology of polysilicon, which has contributed to China’s photovoltaic industry The vigorous development has laid the foundation
    .

    Break through the foreign technology blockade from scratch

    Break through the foreign technology blockade from scratch, break through the foreign technology blockade from scratch

    In the field of polysilicon technology research and development in China, Hualu Company is unique.
    Among them, Chen Weiping, the former deputy chief engineer and director of the process department of the company can not be mentioned
    .


    He has devoted himself to the innovation of organic silicon and polysilicon technology for decades, and has obtained many results.


    "Before 2006, China's polysilicon was heavily dependent on imports.
    At that time, the annual output was less than 100 tons and it was only used in the semiconductor industry
    .


    " Chen Weiping recalled


    Polysilicon is an important basic raw material for solar photovoltaic and electronic information industries.
    As a semiconductor material, more than 85% of photovoltaic cells and more than 95% of semiconductor components in the world use silicon-based materials
    .


    In 2005, the global solar cell output increased rapidly, which directly drove the rapid growth of polysilicon, and the market was in short supply, ushering in a blowout development


    Foreign countries are in full swing, but the country is deserted
    .


    As polysilicon production technology was mastered by a few developed countries such as Germany, the United States, and Japan, at that time more than 95% of polysilicon materials in China depended on imports


    In order to change the passive situation where technology is controlled by others, Hualu Company relies on its own rich experience and technical advantages in the synthesis of organosilicon and trichlorosilane.
    In 2005, Chen Weiping led the formation of a polysilicon technology development and engineering design team to start polysilicon core process development.

    .

    There are no flowers and applause on the road of technology research and development, only hard work and silent dedication
    .


    In the case of foreign technology blockades, lack of domestic materials, and no experience to learn from, the technical team led by Chen Weiping carried forward the spirit of “can chew and dare to chew hard bones” of Hualu people, gave up almost all the rest time, and plunged into R&D work.


    From good to good standing on the top of global technology

     From being on the top of global technology, from being on the top of global technology

    Polysilicon is refined from metallurgical grade silicon with lower silicon purity.
    Previously, the main process technologies for polysilicon production at home and abroad were modified Siemens method and silane method.
    Among them, the improved Siemens method has always been the most important process for polysilicon production, producing electronic grade and solar energy.
    Grade polysilicon
    .

    Chen Weiping introduced that the production of 1 ton of polysilicon by-product is about 20 tons of silicon tetrachloride.
    How to effectively convert silicon tetrachloride into polysilicon's raw material trichlorosilane is the key to the entire polysilicon production process
    .


    Because of its high conversion rate, low energy consumption, and low investment, cold hydrogenation technology has gradually replaced thermal hydrogenation technology in recent years


      While Chen Weiping's technical team conquered cold hydrogenation technology in 2006, Jiangsu Zhongneng keenly seized the opportunity and decisively started the construction of a 1500 tons/year polysilicon production facility
    .

      The largest polysilicon project in China at that time was the first "work" of Hualu Company responsible for polysilicon technology development and engineering design
    .


    Chen Weiping took root in the project site, carried forward the hardworking and enterprising spirit of daring to be the first and unwilling to succeed, researching, analyzing and debugging operating parameters with technicians and operators, and often discussing design schemes and solving problems in the middle of the night


      The effort pays off
    .
    After one and a half years of hard work, the device was completed and put into production in December 2007
    .
    “This is the first project in the country to use cold hydrogenation technology, and it also created three world firsts at that time, namely the shortest construction period for similar-scale projects, the smallest unit product scale investment, and the highest level of technological innovation
    .
    ” Chen Weiping said
    .

      Compared with foreign cold hydrogenation technology, Hualu has innovatively solved the by-product hydrogen chloride circulation problem; the designed large-scale fluidized bed reactor enables the conversion rate of silicon tetrachloride to reach more than 26%, which is 6% higher than similar foreign technologies.
    Percentage points; by optimizing the design of the heat recovery system, the power consumption of trichlorosilane has been significantly reduced to 0.
    2 kWh/ton, which is half of the foreign cold hydrogenation technology; the developed venturi + scrubber combined wet dust removal system and cyclone +The dry dust removal system of the filter reduces the content of silicon powder in the slurry and improves the operation stability of the system.
    The continuous operation period of the cold hydrogenation unit is extended to more than 1 year
    .

      Unlike foreign technology that uses heat transfer oil to heat and vaporize silicon tetrachloride, the silicon tetrachloride and hydrogen mixed vaporization process developed by Hualu Company uses only by-product 0.
    8MPa steam and does not require a complicated heat transfer oil system
    .
    At the same time, they have developed large-scale reduction furnaces and heat recovery technologies for reduction furnaces, multi-stage coupled rectification technology, tail gas recovery and separation technology, etc.
    , to further reduce the cost of polysilicon
    .

      The sharp edge of the sword comes from sharpening, and the fragrance of plum blossom comes from the bitter cold
    .
    Hualu's cold hydrogenation technology was successfully applied for the first time in Jiangsu Zhongneng, and it has continuously made breakthroughs in key core technology research and development, which is superior to foreign advanced technology.
    It has attracted the attention of the global polysilicon industry for a while, and has promoted major changes in the polysilicon pattern.

    .
    Foreign companies began to actively transfer cold hydrogenation technology to China in 2009, and the transfer fee dropped rapidly
    .

      In recent years, Hualu's polysilicon process technology group represented by cold hydrogenation technology has accumulated 14 proprietary patented technologies and 8 national, provincial and industry-level awards
    .
    The 1500 ton/year polysilicon project of Jiangsu Zhongneng designed by Chen Weiping won the National Excellent Engineering Survey and Design Silver Award, and the “a method for polysilicon production to improve the efficiency of reduction deposition reaction” developed by Chen Weiping won the first prize of China's fluorosilicon industry patents.
    The technology for preparing trichlorosilane by silicon tetrachloride and hydrochloric hydrogenation won the second prize of scientific and technological progress of China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation, the application of polysilicon production technology won the second prize of science and technology of Shaanxi Province, and the second prize of scientific and technological progress of China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation Prize
    .

      Conform to the general trend and contribute clean energy

     Conform to the general trend and contribute clean energy Conform to the general trend and contribute clean energy

      In the conspicuous position of Hualu Company's corporate culture exhibition hall, a polysilicon sample is displayed
    .
    This is the first polysilicon rod produced by Jiangsu Zhongneng
    .

      Jiangsu Zhongneng, which has tasted the sweetness of development, continues to expand its production capacity, especially the 10,500 tons/year phase III project completed in 2008, which is the largest scale of installations in the same period
    .
    The project also adopted cold hydrogenation technology, reduction furnace heat recovery technology and high-efficiency distillation separation technology, and its energy consumption was the lowest in the country at that time
    .

      Technological innovation is endless
    .
    Hualu insists on technological advancement and continuously optimizes and improves the cold hydrogenation process
    .
    Since 2009, the company has cooperated with a number of polysilicon companies to implement a series of technological upgrading and transformation with the goal of "energy saving, consumption reduction, potential elimination, and efficiency improvement", which solved the common problems of restricting polysilicon production energy consumption and high cost, so that The investment and production costs of polysilicon devices are greatly reduced
    .

      Through system integration and optimization, the power consumption of polysilicon has dropped from 200 kWh/kg to 65 kWh/kg, the unit steam consumption has dropped from 160 tons to zero, and the unit consumption of silicon powder has dropped from 2.
    3 tons to 1.
    08 tons.
    The main raw materials and utilities Consumption has also fallen further, directly driving the cost of photovoltaic power generation to drop to the advanced level of thermal power
    .

      Starting with an annual output of 1,500 tons, Hualu has formed a series of complete polysilicon technology packages in the 3000-ton, 6000-ton, 10,000-ton, 15,000, and 30,000-ton class in recent years.
    The leap to the 10,000-ton level has reduced the cost of polysilicon per ton by more than 95%, laying the foundation for the rapid development of China's polysilicon and photovoltaic industry
    .
    As of the end of 2020, the total annual domestic production capacity of polysilicon reached 450,000 tons
    .

      In 2020, Hualu won the design contracts for all polysilicon projects newly started in the country that year.
    The total annual production capacity of the seven projects was 200,000 tons, accounting for about 45% of the total domestic production that year
    .
    At the same time, it undertook the first domestic polysilicon EPC general contracting project-Jiangsu Zhongneng silane method polysilicon supporting cold hydrogenation technical transformation project
    .
    At present, the design of the project has been completed, and equipment hoisting and pipeline prefabrication are in progress.
    It is expected to be completed and started up in October this year
    .
    In the first half of 2021, Hualu has signed 9 new polysilicon projects with a total annual production capacity of 400,000 tons
    .

      After the polysilicon design project undertaken by Hualu in the past two years reaches full production, it is expected to contribute about 200GW of clean energy to the annual power generation
    .
    According to thermal power calculations, coal consumption will be reduced by about 120 million tons of standard coal, and carbon emissions will be reduced by 350 million tons
    .

      Vigorously developing renewable clean energy is an important way to achieve carbon peak and carbon neutrality
    .
    At present, photovoltaic power generation only accounts for 3.
    5% of China's total power generation, and there is still a lot of room for the 12% target
    .
    It is estimated that by 2022, the domestic photovoltaic installed capacity will reach more than 300GW, and the demand for polysilicon will exceed 1 million tons
    .
    By 2050, nearly 40% of electricity consumption will come from photovoltaics, and polysilicon has a bright future as the main raw material of the photovoltaic industry
    .

      Chen Weiping said that Hualu actively responds to the national carbon peak and carbon neutral policy, and will unswervingly adhere to technological innovation, enhance core competitiveness, and contribute Hualu's strength to the rapid development of China's photovoltaic industry and the contribution of clean energy
    .
    They will further improve the quality of polysilicon, reduce energy consumption and production costs, and strive to reduce production costs by another 10%, so that low photovoltaic power becomes a reality; at the same time, they will develop granular silicon technology and cooperate with GCL Group to carry out granular silicon project engineering and technology optimization and so on
    .


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