LONDON (Commodity Online): Selenium market is set to soar as demand from glass and solar cell manufacturers is expected to increase in the near future, according to a report by UK-based Merchant Research and Consulting.

There are few selenium substitutes in glass manufacturing and solar industry is set to boom raising prospects of increased solar cell production, the report titled Selenium Market Review added.

Selenium supply is directly affected by the production of the principal product from which it is derived, copper, and to a lesser extent, nickel, or zinc, produced from a sulfide ore. Since global production of selenium and tellurium-bearing copper ore is expected to rise, global selenium and tellurium production may also grow.

Chinese demand for selenium is expected to speed up, owing to a potential demand expansion in manganese production, in which selenium is used.

Selenium is a light, weakly toxic, metalloid. Selenium has a wide range of uses; the largest is in glass-making where it acts as a decolourizer, and it is also used in ceramics, pigments, electronics, animal feed supplement and in base-metal alloys. Its former major use in photocopiers has declined as it has been replaced by other materials.

Showa Shell Sekiyu KK (Japan), which is a major refining company, and Saudi Aramco Oil Co, a Saudi Arabia’s state-run oil company, decided to invigorate a study into a possibility of starting a new solar-power facility which will employ Showa Shell’s copper-indium selenium solar cells manufactured at the Miyazaki prefecture, Japan.

To meet the current demand for this type of cells, the company is going to ramp up it copper-indium selenium solar cell capacity to 1m kW/year from 80,000 kW/year by 2011. The copper-indium selenium solar power generation project in Saudi Arabia goes within the framework of Saudi Arabia’s intention to further diversify its power supply sources. Copper-indium selenium solar cells use copper, indium, and selenium to substitute silicon.

The report focuses on the study of global selenium market and provides region analysis on selenium production. It features major selenium producers, prices, supply and demand conditions, international trade, etc. (Businesswire)

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