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HF is used in boatloads for silicon wafer manufacturing. Not sure about solar. This might be what they're referring to?

But...(at least in the US), wafer manufacturing is highly regulated and focused on safe waste handling...

I'm not sure how much that is, though. On the other hand, manufacture of aluminum from ore requires several kilograms of HF per ton of aluminum. So perhaps the HF usage in PV manufacture is dominated by the production of the aluminum frames for the modules.

I think the dominant consumer of HF, industrially, is in petroleum refineries, where HF is used in alkylation units.

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