New perspective on the composition of photovoltaic solar panels and the possibility of pre-treatment for recycling

0586369 - ÚCHP 2025 RIV IT eng C - Conference Paper (international conference)
Šperlich, Antonín - Šyc, Michal - Muñiz Sierra, Hector
New perspective on the composition of photovoltaic solar panels and the possibility of pre-treatment for recycling.
SUM2024. Padova: CISA PUBLISHER - EUROWASTE SRL, 2024. ISBN 9788862650403.
[Symposium on Circular Economy and Urban Mining /7./. Padova (IT), 15.05.2024-17.05.2024]
R&D Projects: GA TA ČR(CZ) SS02030008
Institutional support: RVO:67985858
Keywords : silica solar photovoltaic panels * recycling * structure and composition * technology design
OECD category: Chemical process engineering

Long-term trends show an increasing solar photovoltaic power plant installed capacity. However, this is also associated with a large production of discarded panels. It is estimated that by 2050 there will be between 60 and 80 million tonnes of waste panels worldwide. Such large amounts of waste
can be an interesting source of valuable materials, and recycling is necessary for environmental reasons. However, at present, the composition of all parts of the panels and suitable technologies on an industrial scale are not well understood and prevent full recycling. Experiments in this paper confirmed high content of silver in certain parts of solar photovoltaic panels and showed a possibility of mechanical pre-treatment.

Permanent Link: https://hdl.handle.net/11104/0353934