# US 2010/0290970 A1 · Fluidized bed process for synthesizing trichlorosilane and a trichlorosilane synthesizer

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- Number: US 2010/0290970 A1
- Document ID: US20100290970A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 12/777,435
- Filed: 2010-05-11
- Published: 2010-11-18
- Earliest claimed: 2009-05-12
- Assignees: Procedyne Corp.
- Inventors: H. Kenneth STAFFIN; Thomas R. Parr
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20100290970A1

## CPC

- B01J 8/36: with fluidised bed through which there is an essentially horizontal flow of particles
- B01J 8/34: with stationary packing material in the fluidised bed, e.g. bricks, wire rings, baffles
- C01B 33/10763: {from silicon}
- B01J 2208/0015: Plates; Cylinders
- B01J 2208/00194: Tubes
- B01J 2208/0084: inside the bed, e.g. baffles
- B01J: CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROCESSES, e.g. CATALYSIS OR COLLOID CHEMISTRY; THEIR RELEVANT APPARATUS
- C01B: NON-METALLIC ELEMENTS; COMPOUNDS THEREOF; {METALLOIDS OR COMPOUNDS THEREOF NOT COVERED BY SUBCLASS C01C}

## Abstract

A multi-stage fluidized bed synthesizer and process for synthesizing trichlorosilane wherein silicon particles can be fed into one of multiple intercommunicating fluidizing zones in a fluidized bed reactor supplied with fluidizing gas comprising hydrogen chloride. The fluidizing zones can be disposed laterally adjacent one to another, for example side-by-side, or in a horizontal line. Useful embodiments include: feeding the fluidizing gas at different rates and/or compositions to the different fluidizing zones; filtration apparatus to filter the gaseous product and return silicon particles to the reactor and cooling systems for cooling the fluidized bed and the gas volumes above the fluidized beds, if present.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A multi-stage fluidized bed process for synthesizing trichlorosilane comprising:
feeding a stream of silicon particles into a first fluidizing zone in a heated reaction vessel at a feed location, the reaction vessel comprising multiple intercommunicating fluidizing zones disposed laterally adjacent one to another;
feeding a fluidizing gas upwardly through each fluidizing zone to fluidize the silicon particles in each fluidizing zone and form a fluidized bed of particles in each fluidizing zone wherein the fluidizing gas comprises hydrogen chloride and can react with the silicon particles in the fluidized bed to form trichlorosilane;
guiding the stream of fluidized particles through the fluidizing zones laterally in sequence from the feed location;
outputting from the reaction vessel gaseous product comprising trichlorosilane; and
optionally, discharging a silicon-depleted residue of the stream of silicon particles from a last fluidizing zone in the lateral sequence through a discharge port.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

A process according to claim 1 comprising feeding fluidizing gas separately to each said fluidizing zone.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

A process according to claim 2 comprising feeding fluidizing gas to each fluidizing zone at a rate independent of the rate of gas feed to another of the fluidizing zones.

### Claim at position 4

4-8. (canceled)

### Claim 9 (depends on 1)

A process according to claim 1 comprising removing the trichlorosilane-containing gaseous product separately from each fluidizing zone.

### Claim at position 6

10-16. (canceled)

### Claim 17 (depends on 1)

A process according to claim 1 comprising heating the multiple fluidizing zones and controlling the temperature of each fluidizing zone independently with respect to the temperatures of other fluidizing zones.

### Claim 18

(canceled)

### Claim 19 (depends on 1)

A process according to claim 1 comprising cooling one or more of the fluidizing zones to maintain a desired operating temperature after the respective one or more fluidizing zones has been heated to the desired operating temperature.

### Claim at position 10

20-23. (canceled)

### Claim 24 (depends on 1)

A process according to claim 1 comprising filtering the gaseous product to remove entrained silicon particles from the gas stream and returning the filtered silicon particles to the reaction vessel.

### Claim 25

(canceled)

### Claim 26 (depends on 1)

A process according to claim 1 comprising separately filtering the flow of gaseous product from each fluidizing zone to remove silicon particles from the gas stream and returning the removed silicon particles to the respective fluidizing zone providing the respective flow of gaseous product or to another selected fluidizing zone.

### Claim at position 14

27-34. (canceled)

### Claim 35 (depends on 1)

A trichlorosilane product produced by a process according to claim 1.

### Claim 36

A fluidized bed process for synthesizing trichlorosilane, the process comprising:
feeding a stream of silicon particles into a heated reactor comprising at least one fluidizing zone;
feeding a fluidizing gas upwardly through the at least one fluidizing zone to fluidize the silicon particles in the fluidizing zone and form a fluidized bed wherein the fluidizing gas comprises hydrogen chloride and can react with the silicon particles in the fluidized bed to form trichlorosilane;
outputting from the reaction vessel gaseous product comprising trichlorosilane;
optionally, discharging the silicon-depleted residue of the stream of silicon particles from the heated reactor;
filtering the gaseous product to remove silicon particles from the gas stream; and
returning the filtered silicon particles to the reaction vessel.

### Claim at position 17

37-38. (canceled)

### Claim 39

A trichlorosilane synthesizer for synthesizing trichlorosilane the trichlorosilane synthesizer comprising:
a fluidized bed reactor;
a solids inlet for introducing a stream of silicon particles into the reactor, the solids inlet being communicable with a supply of silicon particles;
a plurality of fluidizing zones in the fluidized bed reactor, each of the fluidizing zones being laterally adjacent to at least one other of the fluidizing zones;
a gas distributor extending beneath each fluidizing zone and communicating with each respective fluidizing zone to admit fluidizing gas upwardly to the fluidizing zones to contact and react with silicon particles in the fluidizing zones, generating a gaseous product, wherein the fluidizing gas comprises hydrogen chloride;
a temperature-control system in thermal communication with the fluidized bed reactor to control the temperature of the reactor;
at least one gas outlet located above the fluidizing zones for outputting the gaseous product from the reactor; and
a solids outlet for discharging the silicon-depleted residue of the silicon particles from the reactor, the solids outlet being located downstream of the fluidizing zones; wherein the reactor defines a flow path for the silicon particles, the flow path extending laterally from the solids inlet through each fluidizing zone to the solids outlet.

### Claim 40 (depends on 39)

A trichlorosilane synthesizer according to claim 39 wherein the gas distributor comprises an apertured gas distributor plate extending laterally across the reactor, the trichlorosilane synthesizer comprising independent gas distribution regions corresponding with the fluidizing zones for admission of gas to each fluidizing zone independently of the other fluidizing zones, and multiple independently operable gas supplies, one gas supply for each fluidizing zone.

### Claim at position 20

41-44. (canceled)

### Claim 45 (depends on 39)

A trichlorosilane synthesizer according to claim 39 wherein the temperature-control system comprises at least one temperature controller to control the temperature of each fluidizing zone independently of the temperature of another fluidizing zone.

### Claim 46

(canceled)

### Claim 47 (depends on 39)

A trichlorosilane synthesizer according to claim 39 wherein each fluidizing zone is contiguous with another one of the fluidizing zones and the synthesizer comprises at least one zone divider dividing the reaction vessel into adjacent contiguous zones and each zone divider comprises at least one zone opening to allow the stream of silicon particles to flow from one fluidizing zone to the adjacent fluidizing zone in a lateral direction.

### Claim 48 (depends on 39)

A trichlorosilane synthesizer according to claim 39 wherein each fluidizing zone comprises at least one baffle to divide the respective fluidizing zone into multiple stages and each baffle comprises at least one baffle opening in the baffle to allow the stream of silicon particles to flow from one stage to an adjacent stage.

### Claim 49

(canceled)

### Claim 50 (depends on 48)

A trichlorosilane synthesizer according to claim 48 wherein the baffle openings are staggered transversely of the lateral direction and wherein the zone openings and the baffle openings define a serpentine path through the fluidized bed reactor from the feed location to the discharge location for the stream of silicon particles.

### Claim at position 27

51-55. (canceled)

### Claim 56 (depends on 39)

A trichlorosilane synthesizer according to claim 39 wherein the at least one gas outlet comprises a plurality of gas outlets, one for each fluidizing zone.

### Claim 57 (depends on 39)

A trichlorosilane synthesizer according to claim 39 comprising a filtration apparatus communicating with the at least one gas outlet to remove silicon particles from the gas stream received from the gas outlet and return the filtered silicon particles to the reaction vessel.

### Claim at position 30

58-59. (canceled)

### Claim 60 (depends on 39)

A trichlorosilane synthesizer according to claim 39 wherein the at least one gas outlet comprises a plurality of gas outlets, one for each fluidizing zone and the filtration apparatus communicates separately and independently with each of the plurality of gas outlets and comprises a corresponding plurality of filter elements each filter element being configured to allow flowthrough of the gaseous product from one of the gas outlets and to separate silicon particles from the gaseous product flow from the gas outlet and wherein each filter element is coupled with a reverse flow, or reverse pulse, gas supply and the reactor for return of the separated particles to the respective fluidizing zone providing the respective flow of gaseous product.

### Claim at position 32

61-66. (canceled)

### Claim 67

A trichlorosilane synthesizer for synthesizing trichlorosilane, the trichlorosilane synthesizer comprising:
a fluidized bed reactor;
a solids inlet for introducing silicon particles into the reactor;
a fluidizing zone located in the reactor;
a gas distributor extending beneath the fluidizing zone and communicating with the fluidizing zone to admit fluidizing gas upwardly to the fluidizing zone to contact and react with silicon particles in the fluidizing zone, wherein the fluidizing gas comprises hydrogen chloride;
a temperature-control system to control the temperature of the reactor;
a gas outlet for outputting from the reactor the gaseous product of the reaction between the fluidizing gas and the silicon particles, the gaseous product comprising trichlorosilane;
a solids outlet for discharging the silicon-depleted residue of the stream of silicon particles from the reactor; and
a filtration apparatus in fluid communication with the gas outlet to remove silicon particles from the gas stream received from the gas outlet and return the filtered silicon particles to the reaction vessel.

### Claim at position 34

68-72. (canceled)