Major Challenges and Opportunities in Silicon Solar Panel Recycling

Paper in proceeding, 2020

This paper examines three recycling scenarios for silicon panels: panel reuse, component extraction, and material extraction. Recycling process sequences, recycling technologies, and potential revenues for different scenarios are discussed. The main conclusions of the paper include: 1) separation of silicon cells from glass is a critical technology; 2) low-concentration silver and lead must be recovered from silicon panels; 3) markets outside the solar industry for the recovered silicon should be explored; and 4) cell efficiency standardization can improve the recyclability of silicon panels.