Status
Completed
Material Class
Polymers / Metals / E-Scrap
specific materials
21-01-RR-5014

Recycling Technologies for Silicon Solar Modules

NODE
Technical Thrust
Recycling & Recovery
Chemical & Solvent-Based Recycling & Separation (Atomic/Molecular) Technologies
project Members
ASU arizona state univeristy logo
First solar logo
TG Companies LLC
About

The objective of this project is to develop a ready-to-commercialize recycling process to recover materials from silicon modules: solar-grade silicon, lead, silver, tin, solar-quality glass cullet, aluminum, and copper. The focus is on a new chemical recycling process to recover solar-grade silicon, lead, silver, tin, and copper from silicon cells.

Upon completion, this project will deliver an optimized chemical recycling process for silicon solar cells extracted from modules. The optimized process will be the basis for designing and constructing a pilot plant for silicon module recycling at 100,000 modules/year in the U.S. which recovers solar-grade silicon, lead, silver, solar-quality glass cullet, aluminum, copper, and tin from silicon modules. This project will increase secondary materials recovery by about 0.2MMT, embodied energy savings of 22PJ, and GHG emissions reduction of 1.106MMT. Assumptions based on recycling 20% of the expected EOL solar panels in the U.S. in 2030.

PUBLICATIONS

June 11, 2023
Silver Recovery through a Fluoride Chemistry for Solar Module Recycling
Conference Paper

​T. Chen and M. Tao, Silver Recovery through a Fluoride Chemistry for Solar Module Recycling, 50th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (San Juan, PR, 2023)​​ 

Pub. Info: 50th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, San Juan, PR 2023
DOI: DOI: 10.1109/PVSC48320.2023.10359811
December 1, 2023
Recent Progress and Future Prospects of Silicon Solar Module Recycling
Journal Article
Pub. Info: Current Opinion in Green and Sustainable Chemistry, 44, 100863 (2023)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogsc.2023.100863
June 15, 2024
Innovative Recycling of High Purity Silver from Silicon Solar Cells by Acid Leaching and Ultrasonication
Journal Article
Pub. Info: Solar Energy Materials & Solar Cells (Science Direct Elsevier)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2024.112834
May 11, 2024
Recovery of Metallic Lead from End-Of-Life Silicon Solar Modules Using Salt Bridge Electrowinning
Journal Article
Pub. Info: Waste Management Bulletin, 2, 226-231 (2024).
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wmb.2024.05.004
February 16, 2024
Design Changes for Improved Circularity of Silicon Solar Modules
Journal Article
Pub. Info: One Earth
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2024.01.020

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