The Silbec Process for the production of solar grade Silicon

René Boisvert,
President Bécancour Silicon Inc., Canada

René Boisvert, born in 1957, is an electrical engineer graduated in 1980 from Laval University in Québec City, Canada. After five years in the mining and construction industry, he joined Bécancour Silicon Inc., then known as SKW Canada Inc., in 1986 as project engineer. 

He was named Manager of technology in 1995, Vice-president operation in 2001 and became President in 2004. Mr. Boisvert holds a patent in electrode technology and has presented numerous papers on silicon technology over the years.

Bécancour Silicon Inc. is a producer of silicon with an annual capacity of 50,000 MT. Located on the St-Lawrence river in Canada and in operation since 1976, the Bécancour plant is one of the largest and most advanced silicon plant in the world. 

Ongoing research since many years has resulted in two different patent pending processes that enable the purification of silicon from a level of 7000 ppm down to 10 ppm total. A pilot plant with an actual capacity of 30 MT per month is in operation since december 2006, an expansion program will bring the capacity to 150 MT per month in October 2007 and 300 MT per month in April 2008. 

Bécancour Silicon Inc. has signed recently a first agreement to supply more than 4000 MT over the next 5 years with a cell manufacturer.

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