How to recycle and dispose of old solar power panels?
Most solar panels tend to have a service life of about 25 years. Once they reach the end of their useful life, the panels will need to be retired, removed and replaced with new panels. But what happens to those used panels? Is it safe to throw them away? Can they be recycled?
Solar-PV panel recycling process
One of the problems with solar panel recycling efforts is that the solar cells are often encapsulated in plastic and sandwiched between the glass and the backsheet. While disassembly is not technically challenging, it takes time, and time means money for potential recycling companies. Some recycling methods do exist and these are supported by the market, for example, in a typical e-waste facility where the aluminum frames and junction boxes of solar panels are stripped to recover the metal within. However, as we have already highlighted, the rest of the panel is encapsulated in a layer of ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) plastic bonded to the glass. For this reason, the rest of the panel (glass, polymer and solar cell) is usually simply shredded, even though it is coated with silver electrodes and soldered using tin and lead. Since most of the mass of this material is glass, it is usually considered only in the form of impure broken glass. This waste glass cannot usually be recycled further because it usually contains plastic, lead, cadmium and antimony, which can be particularly harmful to the environment if they leach out of the waste.
Only a small percentage of solar panels can be recycled, but the situation is rapidly changing. Panels do contain some very valuable materials, such as silver and silicon. If the price is right, extracting these may be worth the time it takes to effectively recycle old PV panels.
As with other recycling companies, first they remove the aluminum frames, wires, etc. They then shred the rest of the panel and subject it to special chemical treatments, electrolysis and other processes. This treatment allows the company to separate out metals, silicon and glass for future shipment to downstream processors.
SUNY GROUP is a professional manufacturer of solid waste recycling equipment with extensive experience and technology in end-of-life solar panel recycling, and now has numerous partners around the world.
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