Physical and chemical treatment of end of life panels: An integrated automatic approach viable for different photovoltaic technologies

Francesca Pagnanelli; Emanuela Moscardini; Giuseppe Granata; Thomas Abo Atia; Pietro Altimari; Tomas Havlik; Luigi Toro

doi:10.1016/j.wasman.2016.11.011

Physical and chemical treatment of end of life panels: An integrated automatic approach viable for different photovoltaic technologies

Francesca Pagnanelli^*, Emanuela Moscardini, Giuseppe Granata, Thomas Abo Atia, Pietro Altimari, Tomas Havlik, Luigi Toro

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

62 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Different kinds of panels (Si-based panels and CdTe panels) were treated according to a common process route made up of two main steps: a physical treatment (triple crushing and thermal treatment) and a chemical treatment. After triple crushing three fractions were obtained: an intermediate fraction (0.4–1 mm) of directly recoverable glass (17%_w/w); a coarse fraction (>1 mm) requiring further thermal treatment in order to separate EVA-glued layers in glass fragments; a fine fraction (<0.4 mm) requiring chemical treatment to dissolve metals and obtain another recoverable glass fraction. Coarse fractions (62%_w/w) were treated thermally giving another recoverable glass fraction (52%_w/w). Fine fractions can be further sieved into two sub-fractions: <0.08 mm (3%_w/w) and 0.08–0.4 mm (22%_w/w). Chemical characterization showed that 0.08–0.4 mm fractions mainly contained Fe, Al and Zn, while precious and dangerous metals (Ag, Ti, Te, Cu and Cd) are mainly present in fractions <0.08 mm. Acid leaching of 0.08–0.4 mm fractions allowed to obtain a third recoverable glass fraction (22%_w/w). The process route allowed to treat by the same scheme of operation both Si based panels and Cd-Te panels with an overall recycling rate of 91%.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	422-431
Number of pages	10
Journal	Waste Management
Volume	59
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2016.11.011
Publication status	Published - 2017 Jan 1

Keywords

Chemical treatment
Glass recovery
Photovoltaic panels
Physical treatment
Recycling

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Waste Management and Disposal

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1016/j.wasman.2016.11.011

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title = "Physical and chemical treatment of end of life panels: An integrated automatic approach viable for different photovoltaic technologies",

abstract = "Different kinds of panels (Si-based panels and CdTe panels) were treated according to a common process route made up of two main steps: a physical treatment (triple crushing and thermal treatment) and a chemical treatment. After triple crushing three fractions were obtained: an intermediate fraction (0.4–1 mm) of directly recoverable glass (17%w/w); a coarse fraction (>1 mm) requiring further thermal treatment in order to separate EVA-glued layers in glass fragments; a fine fraction (<0.4 mm) requiring chemical treatment to dissolve metals and obtain another recoverable glass fraction. Coarse fractions (62%w/w) were treated thermally giving another recoverable glass fraction (52%w/w). Fine fractions can be further sieved into two sub-fractions: <0.08 mm (3%w/w) and 0.08–0.4 mm (22%w/w). Chemical characterization showed that 0.08–0.4 mm fractions mainly contained Fe, Al and Zn, while precious and dangerous metals (Ag, Ti, Te, Cu and Cd) are mainly present in fractions <0.08 mm. Acid leaching of 0.08–0.4 mm fractions allowed to obtain a third recoverable glass fraction (22%w/w). The process route allowed to treat by the same scheme of operation both Si based panels and Cd-Te panels with an overall recycling rate of 91%.",

keywords = "Chemical treatment, Glass recovery, Photovoltaic panels, Physical treatment, Recycling",

author = "Francesca Pagnanelli and Emanuela Moscardini and Giuseppe Granata and {Abo Atia}, Thomas and Pietro Altimari and Tomas Havlik and Luigi Toro",

year = "2017",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Physical and chemical treatment of end of life panels

T2 - An integrated automatic approach viable for different photovoltaic technologies

AU - Pagnanelli, Francesca

AU - Moscardini, Emanuela

AU - Granata, Giuseppe

AU - Abo Atia, Thomas

AU - Altimari, Pietro

AU - Havlik, Tomas

AU - Toro, Luigi

PY - 2017/1/1

Y1 - 2017/1/1

N2 - Different kinds of panels (Si-based panels and CdTe panels) were treated according to a common process route made up of two main steps: a physical treatment (triple crushing and thermal treatment) and a chemical treatment. After triple crushing three fractions were obtained: an intermediate fraction (0.4–1 mm) of directly recoverable glass (17%w/w); a coarse fraction (>1 mm) requiring further thermal treatment in order to separate EVA-glued layers in glass fragments; a fine fraction (<0.4 mm) requiring chemical treatment to dissolve metals and obtain another recoverable glass fraction. Coarse fractions (62%w/w) were treated thermally giving another recoverable glass fraction (52%w/w). Fine fractions can be further sieved into two sub-fractions: <0.08 mm (3%w/w) and 0.08–0.4 mm (22%w/w). Chemical characterization showed that 0.08–0.4 mm fractions mainly contained Fe, Al and Zn, while precious and dangerous metals (Ag, Ti, Te, Cu and Cd) are mainly present in fractions <0.08 mm. Acid leaching of 0.08–0.4 mm fractions allowed to obtain a third recoverable glass fraction (22%w/w). The process route allowed to treat by the same scheme of operation both Si based panels and Cd-Te panels with an overall recycling rate of 91%.

AB - Different kinds of panels (Si-based panels and CdTe panels) were treated according to a common process route made up of two main steps: a physical treatment (triple crushing and thermal treatment) and a chemical treatment. After triple crushing three fractions were obtained: an intermediate fraction (0.4–1 mm) of directly recoverable glass (17%w/w); a coarse fraction (>1 mm) requiring further thermal treatment in order to separate EVA-glued layers in glass fragments; a fine fraction (<0.4 mm) requiring chemical treatment to dissolve metals and obtain another recoverable glass fraction. Coarse fractions (62%w/w) were treated thermally giving another recoverable glass fraction (52%w/w). Fine fractions can be further sieved into two sub-fractions: <0.08 mm (3%w/w) and 0.08–0.4 mm (22%w/w). Chemical characterization showed that 0.08–0.4 mm fractions mainly contained Fe, Al and Zn, while precious and dangerous metals (Ag, Ti, Te, Cu and Cd) are mainly present in fractions <0.08 mm. Acid leaching of 0.08–0.4 mm fractions allowed to obtain a third recoverable glass fraction (22%w/w). The process route allowed to treat by the same scheme of operation both Si based panels and Cd-Te panels with an overall recycling rate of 91%.

KW - Chemical treatment

KW - Glass recovery

KW - Photovoltaic panels

KW - Physical treatment

KW - Recycling

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Physical and chemical treatment of end of life panels: An integrated automatic approach viable for different photovoltaic technologies

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

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