Efficient, Low-Cost, Eco-Friendly Solar PV Recycling Technology

Summary

Need

The rapid growth in photovoltaic solar panel installations has made end-of-life panel recycling an important topic – both as an environmental challenge and business opportunity. Current recycling technologies are impractical, attributed to low energy efficiency, high-cost and harmful chemicals. It is therefore necessary to develop a highly efficient and low-cost recycling system to recycle end-of-life PV panels.

Action

Inspired by metallurgy engineering, the project will develop a highly efficient low-cost closed-loop recycling system to recover valuable metals and silicon from end-of-life solar panels. The project will leverage interdisciplinary research expertise in metallurgy (pyro- and hydro-metallurgy), photovoltaics, waste treatment, and close collaboration with industry partners across the whole supply chain in Australia and overseas. It will be technically achieved by combining state-of-the-art research methods including extensive computer simulations for system design and scale-up, lab- and pilot-scale experiments for system demonstration, and life cycle, economic and policy analyses for overall system evaluation.