Recycling Silicon From Solar Panels

With the rapid expansion of the global photovoltaic industry, the retirement cycle for solar PV modules is gradually approaching. According to industry media statistics, each 250W polycrystalline silicon module has a lifespan of 25 years. This will generate over one million tonnes of photovoltaic panels awaiting recycling annually. Utilising solar panel recycling machine to dismantle and recover these solar components enables resource recovery and reuse. The discarded photovoltaic panels can be recycled and reused as resources. Failure to process these decommissioned modules not only wastes valuable resources such as silicon and silver but also releases heavy metal pollutants like lead and cadmium, posing threats to soil and groundwater environments. This approach reduces heavy metal pollution while preventing resource wastage.

The structural characteristics of solar photovoltaic panel assemblies determine their recycling value. Mainstream crystalline silicon modules comprise glass, silicon wafers, EVA backsheets, junction boxes, and aluminium frames. Glass can be directly recycled for new assembly production. Significant variations exist across different panel types. Novel modules like perovskite, featuring organic-inorganic composite structures, currently face immature recycling technologies that complicate material separation. Silicon wafers constitute approximately 30% of the entire solar panel. The silicon wafers represent the core recyclable value. The EVA film softens and bonds under high-temperature pyrolysis. The wafer surface is coated with a passivation layer. Direct physical crushing would cause crystal damage, necessitating specialised tools to separate cells along their inter-cell gaps.

solar panel pyrolysis recycling machine

Solar panel recycling machinery typically employs physical crushing combined with dry sorting processes and high-temperature pyrolysis. Technological breakthroughs within the recycling supply chain are crucial. Current physical recycling techniques achieve over 90% material separation. However, high-purity silicon material purification processes still face numerous bottlenecks. For recovering high-purity wafers, the most ideal process involves high-temperature calcination pyrolysis. First, dismantling equipment removes the aluminium frames and junction boxes from solar panels. Subsequently, a high-temperature solar panel pyrolysis recycling machine is used for thermal decomposition. This thermally decomposes the EVA adhesive, completely breaking down the solder ribbons, wafers, and glass. Subsequent stages, including gravity separation and vibrating screen sorting, then isolate: glass, intact silicon wafers, solder ribbons, and other impurities.

As photovoltaic panel recycling technology undergoes accelerated iteration, future waste photovoltaic modules will achieve over 95% material recovery. This will propel the photovoltaic industry’s transition from energy production towards a circular economy, genuinely realising green and low-carbon development objectives. Should you wish to learn more about solar photovoltaic panel recycling machinery, please do not hesitate to contact us.