Mayamaterials and Wadham Energy use rice hull ash to produce ultra-pure polysilicon

In California, a research collaboration between Mayaterials, Inc. and Wadham Energy LP, processing agricultural waste, has developed an environmentally friendly and more cost effective route to producing ultra-pure polysilicon feedstock for use in photovoltaic and electronics applications than any other approach to date.

The project has recently produced polysilicon feedstock of approximately 6N purity (99.9999%) using rice hull ash. An independent engineering evaluation of the Mayaterials process estimates that a commercial plant producing more than 40 tonnes/day would have a capital cost of approximately $24/kg and a variable cost of $5/kg. This development comes as a result of years of research funded by the U.S. DOE and Wadham Energy.