INNOVATIVE RECYCLING OF END OF LIFE SILICON PV PANELS: RESIELP

---

• Available online in Detritus - Volume 16 - September 2021
• Pages 41-47

---

Abstract

In Europe, an increasing amount of End of Life (EoL) photovoltaic silicon (PV) panels is expected to be collected in the next 20 years. The silicon PV modules represent a new type of electronic waste that shows challenges and opportunities. ReSiELP was a European project that aimed at recovery of valuable materials (aluminum, glass, copper, silicon, and silver) from EoL silicon PV modules. During the project a pilot plant, constituted by a furnace, a gas abatement system, an apparatus for the mechanical separation and a hydrometallurgical plant was designed and built. The pilot plan was realized to upscale recycling technology to TRL 7, with a 1500 panels/year capacity. The feasibility of industrial-scale recovery and the reintegration of all recovered materials in their appropriate value chain was investigated. The results obtained showed that 2N purity silicon and 2N purity silver can be recovered with high efficiency. In order to realize a zero-waste plant, a hydrometallurgical process was developed for the wastewater treatment. Moreover, the use of recovered glass for building materials was investigated and the obtained performance seemed comparable with commercial products.

---

Keywords

• PV panels recycling
• Silicon
• Glass
• End of Life PV panels
• Recycling

---

Editorial History

• Received: 30 Sep 2020
• Revised: 16 Apr 2021
• Accepted: 23 Jun 2021
• Available online: 30 Sep 2021

---

References

Choi, J., & Fthenakis, V. (2010). Design and optimization of photovoltaics recycling infrastructure. Environ. Sci. Technol., 44, 8678–8683.
DOI 10.1021/es101710g

Dias, P. R., Benevit, M. G., & Veit, H. M. (2016). Photovoltaic solar panels of crystalline silicon: Characterization and separation. Waste Manag. Res., 34(3), 235-245.
DOI 10.1177/0734242X15622812

European Commision, (2015). Report on critical raw materials for EU

Jäger-Waldau, A. (2017). PV Status Report 2017

Korjakins, A., Shakhmenko, G., Bajare, D., & Bumanis, G. (2012). Effect of ground glass fineness on physical and mechanical properties of concrete. Proceedings of the 10th International Congress for Applied Mineralogy (ICAM) (pp. 395-402). Berlin: Springer.
DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-27682-8_47

Müller, A., Wambach, K., & Alsema, E. (2006). Life Cycle Analysis of Solar Module Recycling Process. Mater. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. (p. 895). Materials Research Society

Paiano, A. (2015). Photovoltaic waste assessment in Italy. Renew. Sust. Energ. Rev., 41, 99-112.
DOI 10.1016/j.rser.2014.07.208

Sgarioto, S., Cerchier, P., Brunelli, K., Pezzato, L., Dabala, M., Tammaro, M., . . . Rakotoniaina, J. (2018). ReSiELP: Recovery of Silicon and other materials from End-of-Life Photovoltaic Panels. Proceedings of SUM2018. Bergamo

Tamanna, N., Mohamed Sutan, N., Lee, D., & Yakub, I. (2013). Utilization of waste glass in concrete. chez 6th International Engineering conference, Energy and Environment (ENCON) (pp. 323-329). At Kuching: Research Publishing.
DOI 10.3850/978-981-07-6059-5_090

IRENA and IEA-PVPS (2016), End-of-Life Management: Solar Photovoltaic Panels. International Renewable

Energy Agency and International Energy Agency Photovoltaic Power Systems

Xu, Y., Li, J., Tan, Q., Peters, A. L., & Yang, C. (2018). Global status of recycling waste solar panels: A review. J. Waste Manag., 75, 450–458.
DOI 10.1016/j.wasman.2018.01.036

Related Contents

• DETRITUS & ART

  Managing editor: Rainer Stegmann

  Published 30 Sep 2021
• ENVIRONMENTAL FORENSIC

  Managing editors: Alberto Pivato, Claire Gwinett and George Varghese

  Published 30 Sep 2021
• POTENTIALS AND COSTS OF VARIOUS RENEWABLE GASES: A CASE STUDY FOR THE AUSTRIAN ENERGY SYSTEM BY 2050

  Daniel Cenk Rosenfeld, Johannes Lindorfer, Hans Böhm, Andreas Zauner and Karin Fazeni-Fraisl

  Published 30 Sep 2021

---