Silicon tetrachloride production by chlorination method using rice husk as raw material

The rice husk is a by-product of the rice processing that contains substantially silica and carbon compounds. For this reason, it has been used as raw material to obtain silicon tetrachloride employed in several kinds of industry applications. This paper presents the characteristics of the carbonized rice husk powders and pellets as well as the SiO2/C mass relation contained in these materials. Results showed that the addition of graphite caused the decreasing of the chlorination reaction kinetic. The best reaction yield was attained at about 1100 °C. It was also evaluated the influence of parameters such as chlorination catalysts, bed height and chlorine gas concentration. The presence of the catalyst had no significant effect on the chlorination reaction kinetic. Higher silica conversions were obtained by decreasing of the bed height.