Abstract
Although the amount of waste photovoltaic (PV) panels is expected to grow exponentially in the next decades, little research on the resource efficiency of their recycling has been conducted so far. The article analyses the performance of different processes for the recycling of crystalline silicon PV waste, in a life cycle perspective. The life cycle impacts of the recycling are compared, under different scenarios, to the environmental benefits of secondary raw materials recovered. Base-case recycling has a low efficiency and, in some cases, not even in line with legislative targets. Conversely, high-efficient recycling can meet these targets and allows to recover high quality materials (as silicon, glass and silver) that are generally lost in base-case recycling. The benefits due to the recovery of these materials counterbalance the larger impacts of the high-efficiency recycling process. Considering the full life cycle of the panel, the energy produced by the panel grants the most significant environmental benefits. However, benefits due to high-efficient recycling are relevant for some impact categories, especially for the resource depletion indicator. The article also points out that thermal treatments are generally necessary to grant the high efficiency in the recycling. Nevertheless, these treatments have to be carefully assessed since they can be responsible for the emissions of air pollutants (as hydrogen fluoride potentially released from the combustion of halogenated plastics in the panel’s backsheet). The article also identifies and assesses potential modifications to the high-efficiency recycling process, including the delocalisation of some treatments for the optimisation of waste transport and the introduction of pyrolysis in the thermal processing of the waste. Finally, recommendations for product designers, recyclers and policymakers are discussed, in order to improve the resource efficiency of future PV panels.
Highlights
In a previous study (Latunussa et al, 2016), we investigated a novel process for the recycling of crystalline silicon photovoltaic (c-Si PV) waste panels - Full Recovery End-of-Life Photovoltaic (FRELP)
Two scenarios are considered; these are expanded from a life cycle perspective and compared to benefits and impacts related to PV manufacturing and operation stages
An innovative high-technology process (FRELP) was compared with current recycling processes used in European Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) recycling plants
Summary
The exponential growth in photovoltaic (PV) panel waste is expected to result in an increase from 100 000 tonnes in 2016 to 60–70 million tonnes in 2050 (Weckend et al, 2016; Statista, 2018).⇑ Corresponding author.Almost two decades ago, Fthenakis (2000) highlighted the importance of investigating the technical and environmental benefits of PV waste recycling. The exponential growth in photovoltaic (PV) panel waste is expected to result in an increase from 100 000 tonnes in 2016 to 60–70 million tonnes in 2050 (Weckend et al, 2016; Statista, 2018). According to Bilimoria and Defrenne (2013), the collection and recycling of PV waste have been much lower than expected, representing only 10% of potential PV waste volumes. The lifetime of panels has turned out to be generally longer than estimated. Some experiments proved that the rate of degradation in the efficiency of crystalline silicon photovoltaic (c-Si PV) panels was around 0.5% per year, much lower than the initially estimated loss of 1% per year (Jordan and Kurtz, 2012). A longer lifetime of panel postpones the generation of PV waste and the follow-up
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