Economic Feasibility of Recycling Photovoltaic Modules

Abstract

The market for photovoltaic (PV) electricity generation has boomed over the last decade, and its expansion is expected to continue with the development of new technologies. Taking into consideration the usage of valuable resources and the generation of emissions in the life cycle of photovoltaic technologies dictates proactive planning for a sound PV recycling infrastructure to ensure its sustainability. PV is expected to be a "green" technology, and properly planning for recycling will offer the opportunity to make it a "double-green" technology-that is, enhancing life cycle environmental quality. In addition, economic feasibility and a sufficient level of value-added opportunity must be ensured, to stimulate a recycling industry. In this article, we survey mathematical models of the infrastructure of recycling processes of other products and identify the challenges for setting up an efficient one for PV. Then we present an operational model for an actual recycling process of a thin-film PV technology. We found that for the case examined with our model, some of the scenarios indicate profitable recycling, whereas in other scenarios it is unprofitable. Scenario SC4, which represents the most favorable scenario by considering the lower bounds of all costs and the upper bound of all revenues, produces a monthly profit of $107,000, whereas the least favorable scenario incurs a monthly loss of $151,000. Our intent is to extend the model as a foundation for developing a framework for building a generalized model for current-PV and future-PV technologies.

Economic Feasibility for Recycling of Waste Crystalline Silicon Photovoltaic Modules

“…This effect is highlighted also by Choi and Fthenakis, where the monthly profit ranges from −7509 $/month to −10,100 $/month [20]. Another work defines as unitary profits are equal to −23.96 $/module [17]. Finally, the profitability is verified with a 20,000-ton plant and a monthly profit equal to 624,755 $/month [20].…”

“…This size is linked also to an integrated automatic approach viable for different PV technologies [21]. Some interesting economic models are proposed in the literature [17,20], and discounted cash flow (DCF) analysis is used for evaluating the financial feasibility [22]. Consequently, the economic side is still not well explored in the literature, and this paper tries to cover this gap.…”

“…The attention of companies is more focused on thin-film modules recycling, guaranteeing a higher profit thanks to the presence of precious materials [17]. Contrarily, Si-based panels are poor of valuable materials, and their recycling cost is always higher than the landfilling one, making recycling an unfavorable economic option [18].…”

Closed-Loop Supply Chain Planning Model for a Photovoltaic System Manufacturer with Internal and External Recycling

“…In contrast, separated liquid that contains various semiconductor materials is transformed into filter cakes through the precipitation process. The filter cakes are sent to external metal refiners and go through additional recycling processes [16,17]. Detailed manufacturing and recycling steps as well as the materials from each step are represented in Figure 2.…”

Policies and Measures for Sustainable Management of Solar Panel End-of-Life in Italy

“…Instead, in the course of the last few decades, a handful of studies have supplied information on the toxicity of components used in certain types of modules [27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35], adopting different systems of evaluation and prospects. Other studies have evaluated the economic and technological impacts of the different processes for the disposal and recycling of modules [36][37][38][39] and innovative recycling methods that have been identified [40][41][42].…”