Wet etching processes for recycling crystalline silicon solar cells from end-of-life photovoltaic modules

Park, Jong‐Sung; Park, Nochang

doi:10.1039/c4ra03895a

Cited by 59 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…The materials in Table 4 can be extracted from the cells. The methods proposed so far for material extraction from Si cells are all chemical methods 20,22,30–33 . Figure 5 shows the process for Si cell recycling.…”

Section: Technologies For Component/materials Extractionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Major challenges and opportunities in silicon solar module recycling

Tao

Fthenakis

Ebin

et al. 2020

Progress in Photovoltaics

114

122

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This article examines some of the basic questions about silicon module recycling: (1) What can be recovered from silicon modules? (2) What recycling technologies are needed? (3) What are the potential revenues for different recycling scenarios? And (4) what are the major challenges for different recycling scenarios? Three recycling scenarios are considered: module reuse, component extraction, and material extraction. Recycling process sequences for different scenarios are outlined. The discussions conclude that module reuse generates the highest revenue with the fewest processing steps, while material extraction leads to the lowest revenue with the most processing steps. It is suggested that gentle and clean separation of silicon solar cells from the glass pane is a critical technology for silicon module recycling. It is also argued that two low‐concentration metals must be recovered from silicon modules: silver as a scarce material and lead as a toxic material. Their recovery requires chemical methods, while bulky materials including glass cullet, aluminum frame, and copper wiring can be recovered with physical methods. The silicon in the cells can be extracted with different qualities: ferro‐silicon, metallurgical‐grade silicon, or solar‐grade silicon, with a higher revenue and more complicated recycling process for purer silicon. Markets outside the solar industry for the recovered silicon should be explored. The biggest challenge for module reuse is to find a large and sustained market for hundreds of gigawatts peak of decommissioned modules a year, and the biggest challenge for component extraction is the many different module and cell structures on the market and cell efficiency variability. For all the three scenarios, the cost of collecting and processing waste modules is a common challenge.

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Section: Technologies For Component/materials Extractionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Major challenges and opportunities in silicon solar module recycling

Tao

Fthenakis

Ebin

et al. 2020

Progress in Photovoltaics

114

122

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The next stage is to delaminate or remove the encapsulant material, which is normally ethylene-vinyl-acetate (EVA). Several techniques can be used in this phase [2], including thermal [28,29], and chemical (organic and inorganic) [20,30,31] and mechanical recycling processes [7].…”

Section: Recyclingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For the recycling scenario, the considered processes were thermal [28,29] and chemical [6,20,30,31] methods, compared with the mechanical approach, which is already published [7] but excluding the transportation impacts from all processes. These recycling processes start with the mechanical separation of the junction box and aluminium frame, which can be recycled and reused.…”

Section: Process Descriptions and Inventory Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of End-of-Life Silicon Solar Photovoltaic Modules

et al. 2018

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Abstract:The cumulative global photovoltaic (PV) waste reached 250,000 metric tonnes by the end of 2016 and is expected to increase considerably in the future. Hence, adequate end-of-life (EoL) management for PV modules must be developed. Today, most of the EoL modules go to landfill, mainly because recycling processes for PV modules are not yet economically feasible and regulation in most countries is not yet well established. Nevertheless, several methods for recycling PV modules are under development. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a methodology that quantifies the environmental impacts of a process or a product. An attributional LCA was undertaken to compare landfill, incineration, reuse and recycling (mechanical, thermal and chemical routes) of EoL crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar modules, based on a combination of real process data and assumptions. The results show that recovery of materials from solar modules results in lower environmental impacts compared to other EoL scenarios, considering our assumptions. The impacts could be even lower with the adoption of more complex processes that can reclaim more materials. Although recycling processes can achieve good recycling rates and recover almost all materials from solar modules, attention must be paid to the use of toxic substances during the chemical routes of recycling and to the distance to recycling centres due to the impacts of transportation.

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“…The etching targets are the surface electrode made of silver, the anti-reflection film (AR) including silicon nitride, the back electrode made of aluminum and the p-n junction part in the silicon wafer. In order to dissolve each target efficiently, various etching solutions were used sequentially as follows: HNO 3 -HCl-HF/ HNO 3 , 3) HCl-HF/HNO 3 , 3) NaOH-HF, 3) HF/HNO 3 /CH 3 -COOH, 8) HF/H 2 SO 4 /CH 3 COOH, 8) HF/HNO 3 -KOH, 9) H 3 PO 4 -HF/HNO 3 , 9) HF/HNO 3 /CH 3 COOH, 10,11) HF/ HNO 3 /Br 2 , 10,11) HF/HNO 3 /AgNO 3 , 12,13) NOHSO 4 /HF/ H 2 SO 4 12,13) and HF/HNO 3 /CH 3 COOH/Br. 14) However, there was little study on the etching rate of each component in the silicon solar cell when concentration of etching solution was varied widely.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of HF and HNO<sub>3</sub> Concentration on Etching Rate of Each Component in Waste Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells

et al. 2015

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Wet etching processes for recycling crystalline silicon solar cells from end-of-life photovoltaic modules

Abstract: Chemical wafer recovering processes fabricate virgin-like c-Si wafers from degraded c-Si solar cells.

Cited by 59 publications

References 7 publications

Major challenges and opportunities in silicon solar module recycling

Major challenges and opportunities in silicon solar module recycling

Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of End-of-Life Silicon Solar Photovoltaic Modules

Effect of HF and HNO<sub>3</sub> Concentration on Etching Rate of Each Component in Waste Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells

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