Carbon-Neutral Silicon via Aluminothermic Reduction? Exploring Industrial Symbiosis through Life Cycle Assessment.

ABSTRACT: Silicon is conventionally produced by carbothermic reduction, which reduces quartz with a carbon source. An alternative process is the aluminothermic reduction, which uses an aluminum source instead, leading to a substantial decrease in direct CO₂ emissions. This paper assesses a case study on industrial symbiosis by producing silicon through aluminothermic reduction using aluminum dross resourced as a reductant material. Various process alternatives are evaluated, with inventories constructed from thermodynamic process simulations and mass and energy balances. We find that the impact of global warming and cumulative energy demand can be reduced by up to 80% in the aluminothermic route. Still, other impacts increase due to the strong influence of the expected alternative use of

SUBMITTER: Pastor-Valles E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12442225 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature