Mechanical Recycling of Photovoltaic Modules

Abstract

The article describes a mechanical way of photovoltaic modules recycling. The research was conducted in terms of minimal impact on the environment and with the lowest possible financial costs. In cooperation with Galmet company, it has been found that it is very difficult to obtain metals from the mixture of recycled PV modules with glass. In the case of the mixture without glass, the entire process was faster, easier and cheaper. From the entire mechanical recycling process it can be seen that the crushed material containing up to 0.07 % silver is not economically advantageous to process chemically. The silver content didn´t even cover the cost of basic operations. From the economic point of view the final operation should be the mechanical separation of aluminum and glass. Based on data provided by the Galmet company was also theoretically calculated the amount of saved material due to PV module recycling until year 2025. Recycling could save up to 351 500 tons of glass, 51 500 aluminum, 13 567 tons of silicon and 425 tons of silver.