Circular economy strategies as enablers for solar PV adoption in organizational market segments

Opstal, Wim Van; Smeets, Anse

doi:10.1016/j.spc.2022.10.019

Cited by 32 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 97 publications

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“…This goal requires optimizing the disassembly process (Sassanelli et al, 2021), improving the decision-making process (Luglietti et al, 2016) and the circularity of resources within manufacturing context (Acerbi et al, 2022), in order to increase green supply chain management (Sathiya et al, 2021) minimizing the level of emissions (Cucchiella et al, 2017), and maximizing gold recovery (Ippolito et al, 2021). The literature highlights how the circular approach is essential to sustainability goals (Qazi and Appolloni, 2022), also within solar projects (Van Opstal and Smeets, 2023). Circular management of solar resources in all countries is called to have a perspective that looks at the long term and not the short term (Chowdhury et al, 2020; Tasnim et al, 2022).…”

Section: Literature Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Circular solar: Evaluating the profitability of a photovoltaic panel recycling plant

et al. 2023

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Photovoltaic (PV) panels have a crucial role in coping with the global warming mitigation and the energetic crisis currently affecting the European Community. However, from the circular perspective of end-of-life (EoL) management, there are still big issues to be solved in order to recover materials from this kind of e-wastes. Because of several reasons (e.g. type of embedded materials, illegal shipments, location of manufacturers) EoL businesses do not have the interest in approaching them. This poses a significant environmental concern in terms of their management. This work wants to assess the profitability of a specific PV module recycling plant, by evaluating several market contexts in which multiple scenarios of material price, investment and process costs will be considered. The results for a 3000 tonnes plant show that profitability is not verified in the absence of an avoided landfill cost. Instead, when a value of 200 €/tonnes is applied, the net present value is positive in 35.2% of the scenarios and at 87.6% when a value of 350 €/tonnes is considered. The policy choice of this value requires linking the PV module disposal fee to the circular benefits associated with its recovery.

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Section: Literature Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Circular solar: Evaluating the profitability of a photovoltaic panel recycling plant

et al. 2023

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“…Value propositions that stem from PV reuse within circular business models remain underexplored (Rabaia et al, 2022). An exception to this are studies on organizational market segments, including companies, schools, social housing associations, and public sector buildings, focusing on market-specific barriers and enablers (Van Opstal and Smeets, 2022a), and the way circular solutions can remove barriers for solar PV investments (Van Opstal and Smeets, 2022b). To the best of our knowledge, a similar study on residential applications for homeowners has not been performed earlier.…”

Section: Literature On Circular Solar Solutionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although, demand side parameters of solar PSS models have been studied extensively (Drury et al, 2012;Överholm, 2015;Palm, 2020;Schmidt et al, 2016) but rarely from a circular economy lens, neglecting end-of-life solutions and PV reuse. Recently, focus group research was used to study enabling value propositions of circular solar solutions within organizational market segments (Van Opstal and Smeets, 2022b). A similar study on residential market segments, however, has not been published yet.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

When do circular business models resolve barriers to residential solar PV adoption?

Wim

Anse²

2022

SSRN Journal

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“…According to European guidelines, PV modules are classified as waste from electrical and electronic equipment and fall within the targets of separate collection, 80% recycling end 85% recovery (EU, 2012; Rubino et al, 2020). Considering that the main goal of the Circular Economy is independence in primary materials and energy, PV panels play a key role in the sustainable energy production of clean energy, and the production of clean air (Papamichael et al, 2022; Van Opstal and Smeets, 2023; Voukkali et al, 2021). However, there is still a lack of clear policies for the efficient management of solar PV waste and insufficient infrastructure to perform it (Markert et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Promoting new quality protocols for reusing PV panels and optimizing material recovery methods are vital areas of research. Currently, physical methods involving manual disassembly, crashing, flotation, electrostatic separation, eddy current separation, mechanical screening, pyrolysis and/or gasification are being tested (Papamichael and Zorpas, 2022; Van Opstal and Smeets, 2023).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

c-Si PV module recycling: Analysis of the use of a mechanical pre-treatment to reduce the environmental impact of thermal treatment and enhance materials recovery

et al. 2023

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The current increase in the use of photovoltaic (PV) energy demands the search for solutions to recycle end-of-life modules. This study evaluated the use of a mechanical pre-treatment in the thermal recycling of c-Si crystalline PV modules, which were submitted to recycling routes to separate and concentrate the materials of interest. The first route was constituted by only thermal treatment, and the second route was constituted by a mechanical pre-treatment to remove the polymers from the backsheet, and subsequent thermal treatment. The exclusively thermal route was performed at 500°C, varying dwell times between 30 and 120 minutes in the furnace. In this route, the best results were obtained in 90 minutes, with a maximum degradation of 68% of the polymeric mass. In route 2, a micro-grinder rotary tool was used to remove the polymers from the backsheet and, subsequently, thermal treatment performed at 500°C, with dwell times in the furnace ranging between 5 and 30 minutes. The mechanical pre-treatment removed about 10.32 ± 0.92% of the mass of the laminate PV module. By this route, only 20 minutes of thermal treatment were needed for the total decomposition of the polymers, that is, a reduction of 78% in the oven time. With route 2, it was possible to obtain a concentrate with 30 times more silver than the PV laminate and 40 times more than a high-concentration ore. Furthermore, with route 2 it was possible to reduce the environmental impact of heat treatment and energy consumption.

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Circular economy strategies as enablers for solar PV adoption in organizational market segments

Cited by 32 publications

References 97 publications

Circular solar: Evaluating the profitability of a photovoltaic panel recycling plant

Circular solar: Evaluating the profitability of a photovoltaic panel recycling plant

When do circular business models resolve barriers to residential solar PV adoption?

c-Si PV module recycling: Analysis of the use of a mechanical pre-treatment to reduce the environmental impact of thermal treatment and enhance materials recovery

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