Rice Husk to Solar Photovoltaic Cells

You are at: Oilgae Blog (Oilgae - Oil & Biodiesel from Algae Home Page)

See also: Oilgae Blog Article Directory for a complete listing of all Oilgae blog posts - covering news, research and updates on biodiesel from algae & other plant feedstock, ethanol, and other renewable energy such as wind energy, hydrogen, hydro-energy, tidal/wave energy, geothermal, solar energy & nuclear energy

Rice Husk to Solar Photovoltaic Cells

Came across this interesting, but really brief, piece of info in a news article and was intrigued - what exactly do they mean.

So I did some research and the following are what came up...interesting:

1. An abstract from an Indian university research paper: Rice-husk may constitute a viable alternative raw material for production of solar grade silicon. Powdered silicon obtained by Mg reduction of rice-husk ash was subjected to melting and directional solidification resulting in large-grain polycrystalline silicon ingots. The material was found to be p-type with resistivity 0.1-0.3 ohm-cm within the grains. The hole concentration was 8 x 10 to the 17th/cu cm and mobility 69 sq cm/VS as found from Hall effect studies. Steady-state photoconductivity indicated electron life-times greater than one-millionth of a second which is promising for photovoltaic applications. The conductivity activation energy of 0.045 eV showed that B was the active impurity. (see the original abstract here - Large Grain Polycrystalline Silicon from Rice Husk)

2. Appears to be another abstract from the same team? - Polycrystalline silicon of reasonable purity has been prepared by metallothermic reduction of purified rice-husk white ash (amorphous silica) by using calcium. The mechanism of reduction of the silica with calcium was investigated using simultaneous thermogravimetric analysis and differential thermal analysis, which revealed the reduction temperature to be around 720 C. The paper also discusses the method of preparation of silicon and its purification procedure. Characterization of the silicon sample thus prepared was made by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and emission spectrography. (see the original abstract here - Production and purification of silicon by calcium reduction of rice-husk white ash)

India appears to be doing most lot of the (limited) research in this segment - not surprising with the country being one of the largest producers of rice in the world


Oilgae - Oil & Biodiesel from Algae
Oilgae Blog
algOS - Biodiesel from Algae Open Source

Oilgae - Oil & Biodiesel from Algae provides links, directory, web links resources for algae-based biofuels & biodiesel. Intended to be useful for research, information, inputs, news for buyers, sellers, manufacturers, traders, suppliers, producers, exporters / importers of algal oil and algal fuels. Will provide info on biofuel feedstock, algal feedstocks, algae oil and link details on fuel from algae, bio-fuel, bio-diesel, algal oils & bio-fuels production and uses, biofuels trade & market resources, price data, statistics, prices, demand-supply for buyer, seller, manufacturer, trader, supplier, exporter and producer