Yahaira Barrueto and Dennis Vega published a review paper on “Technological Advancement in Solar Photovoltaic Recycling», in the recent edition of Minerals, one of the main scientific journals on mineral processing.
The article reviews the status of photovoltaic panel recycling through a bibliometric study of articles and patents involving three treatments—mechanical, chemical and thermal—where the mechanical process represents the preliminary stage before recovering valuable elements, which is achieved through chemical or thermal processes.
The articles and patents reviewed cover a variety of processes: hydrometallurgical, pyrometallurgical, classification, solvent and oxidizing agent processes. The analysis was complemented by a survey of market-ready technologies, many of which include steps such as size reduction or delamination followed by pyrometallurgical processes. The research highlights the collection processes implemented by some companies, noting that the volume of waste panels is currently insufficient to maintain continuous operations throughout the year.
The study identifies key challenges, such as changing the use of the EVA polymer for another that allows efficient delamination (process of separating the layers of a molded part), as well as adopting hydrometallurgical treatments with ecological solvents after pyrometallurgical treatments.
The number of photovoltaic panels that will go out of use in the coming years is significant, which underlines the importance of continuing to research and patent methods to make photovoltaic recycling effective for resource recovery.
