Economic recycling of CdTe photovoltaic modules

Bohland, J.; Анисимов, И. И.; Dapkus, T.

doi:10.1109/pvsc.1997.654101

Cited by 9 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…These processes have yielded up to 90% and 95% recovery of silicon and glass, respectively. Thinfilms coppereindiumegallium-diselenide (CIGS) and cadmium telluride (CdTe) modules first will be shredded, spun, and then undergo leaching and precipitation in order to separate out ethyl vinyl acetate (EVA) and organics while recovering glass and active materials following the First Solar process described in literature (Berger et al, 2010;Bohland et al, 1997;J. K. Choi and Fthenakis, 2010;Goozner et al, 1999;Karagiannidis and Moussiopoulos, 1998;Marwede et al, 2013).…”

Section: Recovery Technologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition to the process specific equipment, we assume a forklift and conveyor belts are required for transporting materials throughout the plant. Conveyor belts are assumed to be used to feed into size reduction and spinning processes as described in literature (Bohland et al, 1997;Hu et al, 2002). We estimate the equipment cost is $1500 and $9000 for a conveyor system and forklift based on data from equipment manufacturers (Delgado et al, 2008;Ekmekçio glu et al, 2010;Gorsevski et al, 2012;Korucu and Karademir, 2013;Sharifi et al, 2009;Sumathi et al, 2008;Toyota Industrial Equipment, 2014;Grainger Inc, 2014).…”

Section: Recovery Technologymentioning

confidence: 99%

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System tradeoffs in siting a solar photovoltaic material recovery infrastructure

Goe

Gaustad

Tomaszewski

2015

Journal of Environmental Management

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The consumption and disposal of rare and hazardous metals contained in electronics and emerging technologies such as photovoltaics increases the material complexity of the municipal waste stream. Developing effective waste policies and material recovery systems is required to inhibit landfilling of valuable and finite resources. This work developed a siting and waste infrastructure configuration model to inform the management and recovery of end-of-life photovoltaics. This model solves the siting and waste location-allocation problem for a New York State case study by combining multi-criteria decision methods with spatial tools, however this methodology is generalizable to any geographic area. For the case study, the results indicate that PV installations are spatially statistically significant (i.e., clustered). At least 9 sites, which are co-located with landfills and current MRFs, were 'highly' suitable for siting according to our criteria. After combining criteria in an average weighted sum, 86% of the study area was deemed unsuitable for siting while less than 5% is characterized as highly suitable. This method implicitly prioritized social and environmental concerns and therefore, these concerns accounted for the majority of siting decisions. As we increased the priority of economic criteria, the likelihood of siting near ecologically sensitive areas such as coastline or socially vulnerable areas such as urban centers increased. The sensitivity of infrastructure configurations to land use and waste policy are analyzed. The location allocation model results suggest current tip fees are insufficient to avoid landfilling of photovoltaics. Scenarios where tip fees were increased showed model results where facilities decide to adopt limited recycling technologies that bypass compositionally complex materials; a result with strong implications for global PV installations as well as other waste streams. We suggest a multi-pronged approach that lowers technology cost, imposes a minimum collection rate, and implements higher tip fees would encourage exhaustive material recovery for solar photovoltaic modules at end-of-life, beyond New York State. These results have important implications for policy makers and waste managers especially in locations where there is rapid adoption of renewable energy technologies.

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Section: Recovery Technologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Recovery Technologymentioning

confidence: 99%

System tradeoffs in siting a solar photovoltaic material recovery infrastructure

Goe

Gaustad

Tomaszewski

2015

Journal of Environmental Management

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“…The cadmium and tellurium dissolve in the solution. Adding caustic solution, such as sodium carbonate, to adjust the PH value can make the cadmium and tellurium precipitate [26].…”

Section: Recycling Of Cdte Pv Modulesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…TeO 2 can dissolve in the alkaline solution and be separated from CdCO 3 . High-purity tellurium can be obtained by electrowinning [26].…”

Section: Recycling Of Cdte Pv Modulesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recycling of Solar Cell Materials at the End of Life

Wang

2016

Advances in Solar Photovoltaic Power Plants

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Although solar energy is a green energy, it can produce a significant amount of waste. Some types of solar cells use rare elements or precious metals as the component material. Therefore, the recycling of PV modules is necessary for environmental and economic purposes. The recycling process for PV modules includes chemical and physical treatment methods, which have been successfully used in other recycling industries, such as electronics or hardware recycling. The use of these mature technologies can decompose and recycle PV module materials. There are still some differences between PV module recycling and electronic recycling. A solar cell module contains several encapsulating plastic materials, such as ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) and polyvinyl fluoride (PVF). In recycling programs, removing the plastic materials is the first step. In this chapter, several types of recycling processes are introduced, which correspond to different types of PV modules. These methods have been validated and successfully implemented in PV module recycling plants.

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“…This solves two problems at once, namely, keeping potentially hazardous materials out of the environment and reducing the need for additional mining and/or refining of new materials. Semiconductor vendors have indicated a willingness to accept used modules, and to extract and purify the CdTe, CdS, or Cu(InGa)Se 2 for resale and reuse [17,18].…”

Section: Photovoltaics Is Polluting Just Like All High-technology or mentioning

confidence: 99%

Status, Trends, Challenges and the Bright Future of Solar Electricity from Photovoltaics

Hegedus

Ĺuque

2003

Handbook of Photovoltaic Science and Engineering

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Economic recycling of CdTe photovoltaic modules

Cited by 9 publications

References 2 publications

System tradeoffs in siting a solar photovoltaic material recovery infrastructure

System tradeoffs in siting a solar photovoltaic material recovery infrastructure

Recycling of Solar Cell Materials at the End of Life

Status, Trends, Challenges and the Bright Future of Solar Electricity from Photovoltaics

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