Fraunhofer ISE has created a system for recycling the silicon in old solar panels so it can be used to make new solar cells.
this week, it says it has devised a way to recapture the silicon in old solar panels and reprocess it so it can be reused in the manufacture of new solar cells. It says about 10,000 tons of silicon in discarded photovoltaic modules end up on the recycling market each year in Germany. That figure will rise to several hundred thousand tons per year by 2029.
Currently, the aluminum, glass, and copper of the discarded modules are reprocessed, however, the silicon solar cells are not. Frauhnofer’s researchers have developed a way to reprocess the silicon in the discarded modules on an industrial scale and reuse it to make new PERC solar cells. Silicon is the main component of solar cells.Most PV systems in Germany were installed between 2009 and 2011 during the first wave of photovoltaic expansion.
With the new process, it is possible to recycle all crystalline silicon PV modules, regardless of manufacturer and origin. Dr. Peter Dold, project manager at Fraunhofer CSP, explains: “If this were not the case, then this would be far too much work for the recycling companies. It was important for us to develop a scalable process that makes economic sense. A lot is possible in the lab, but our new process should prove itself in the practice for the recycling industry.
Solar cell fragments are separated and collected from byproducts of the mechanical recycling process. The cell fragments range in size from 0.1 to 1 millimeter, and are first freed from the glass and plastic they are attached to by various sorting processes. Then the silver contacts on the back of the silicon are removed along with the anti-reflective layer, and finally the emitter, via wet chemical etching.
The crystallization is carried out with 100% recycled silicon without the addition of commercial ultra-pure silicon. In the first trial, the solar cell conversion efficiency was 19.7%. “This is below the efficiency of today’s premium PERC solar cells, which have an efficiency of around 22.2 percent, but it is certainly above that of the solar cells in the old, discarded modules,” says Dold.. That is not yet true of the recycled silicon from the Fruanhofer process, but this is a new technique.
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