An experiment searching for the neutron electric dipole moment by measuring spin-rotations in a non-centrosymmetric crystal was carried out to investigate the statistical sensitivity and systematic effects of the method. The preliminary result of this experiment is dn = (2.5 ± 6.5) ṡ 10- 24 e ṡ cm. The performance was essentially limited by the low luminosity of the prototype setup. With a dedicated setup and a large quartz crystal, the expected accuracy is ∼ 2 ṡ 10- 26 e ṡ cm for 100 days of data collection. © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.