Nippon Mining Holdings to Launch Polysilicon JV Plant

Nippon Mining Holdings, Toho Titanium and Chisso Corporation announced on Wednesday they start commercial production of polycrystalline silicon for photovoltaic power generation. They will construct a new plant to produce polysilicon with 3,000-tonne annual capacity in Kashima Complex, Ibaraki, Japan. The investment totals 24 billion yen. The plant will start commercial output during April-September 2010.The 3 parent companies will establish a new joint venture for the polysilicon business on 30 June, 2008 with 100 million yen capital, 30% shared by Nippon Mining Holdings, 20% by Toho Titanium and 50% by Chisso. Kazuo Oki, Nippon Mining Holdings’ senior managing director, is elected the JV’s president. The JV will employ 110 workers at 3,000t annual capacity.The initial plant with 400t annual capacity will be established, whose construction will start in July 2008 and production start during April-September 2010. In the second phase, the output capacity will be expanded to 3,000 tonnes per year. In the further future, the capacity could approach 10,000 tonnes per year. The plant site is 50,000 square meters.The 3 companies have co-developed production technology of polysilicon for photovoltaic power generation by their original zinc reduction method since January 2007. Their method is a kind of chloride technology like Siemens method, the major method to produce photovoltaic polysilicon. The new technology enables production of high grade polysilicon with 8N-9N purity. The reaction efficiency is higher than Siemens method since the new method uses silicon tetrachloride as a material. Unreacted silicon tetrachloride can be reused, that is, the productive costs can be cheaper.