IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/appene/v337y2023ics0306261923002647.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A methodology to liberate critical metals in waste solar panel

Author

Listed:
  • Li, Mingkai
  • Widijatmoko, Samuel D.
  • Wang, Zheng
  • Hall, Philip

Abstract

The availability of critical metals is one of the driving factor to secure the transition of energy production to a renewable, low carbon one because of the material requirement in photovoltaic technology (PV), wind power generation and batteries. For example, precious metals are vital to manufacture crystalline silicon solar panel and tellurium, germanium, indium and gallium are essential in thin film photovoltaic panels. However, the pressure on the supply of critical metals increases with the growth of photovoltaics. Considering the resource availability, the recycling of critical metals from waste solar panels can enhance the sustainability of end-of-life management, although the recycled metal input is limited in present state. Among the recycling techniques, the separation and liberation of metals from non-metals are crucial. This study investigate a methodology to liberate thin film materials from copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) thin-film solar panel to recycle photovoltaic material including indium and gallium via a mechanical process.

Suggested Citation

  • Li, Mingkai & Widijatmoko, Samuel D. & Wang, Zheng & Hall, Philip, 2023. "A methodology to liberate critical metals in waste solar panel," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 337(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:337:y:2023:i:c:s0306261923002647
    DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2023.120900
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261923002647
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.apenergy.2023.120900?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Colli, Alessandra, 2013. "The role of sodium in photovoltaic devices under high voltage stress: A holistic approach to understand unsolved aspects," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 162-168.
    2. Marwede, Max & Berger, Wolfgang & Schlummer, Martin & Mäurer, Andreas & Reller, Armin, 2013. "Recycling paths for thin-film chalcogenide photovoltaic waste – Current feasible processes," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 220-229.
    3. Grandell, Leena & Lehtilä, Antti & Kivinen, Mari & Koljonen, Tiina & Kihlman, Susanna & Lauri, Laura S., 2016. "Role of critical metals in the future markets of clean energy technologies," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 53-62.
    4. McDonald, N.C. & Pearce, J.M., 2010. "Producer responsibility and recycling solar photovoltaic modules," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(11), pages 7041-7047, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Agnieszka Surowiak & Mustapha Wahman, 2024. "Thermal–Mechanical Delamination for Recovery of Tempered Glass from Photovoltaic Panels," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(17), pages 1-11, September.
    2. D’Orazio, Paola, 2024. "Assessing the fiscal implications of changes in critical minerals’ demand in the low-carbon energy transition," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 376(PA).
    3. Pietro Romano & Chiara Lanzone & Soroush Rahmati & Nicolò Maria Ippolito & Francesco Ferella & Francesco Vegliò, 2024. "A Kinetic Study of Silver Extraction from End-of-Life Photovoltaic Panels through Gold-REC1 Process," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(17), pages 1-16, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Deng, Rong & Chang, Nathan L. & Ouyang, Zi & Chong, Chee Mun, 2019. "A techno-economic review of silicon photovoltaic module recycling," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 532-550.
    2. Cucchiella, Federica & D׳Adamo, Idiano & Rosa, Paolo, 2015. "End-of-Life of used photovoltaic modules: A financial analysis," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 552-561.
    3. Kang, Sukmin & Yoo, Sungyeol & Lee, Jina & Boo, Bonghyun & Ryu, Hojin, 2012. "Experimental investigations for recycling of silicon and glass from waste photovoltaic modules," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 152-159.
    4. Seck, Gondia Sokhna & Hache, Emmanuel & D'Herbemont, Vincent & Guyot, Mathis & Malbec, Louis-Marie, 2023. "Hydrogen development in Europe: Estimating material consumption in net zero emissions scenarios," International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    5. Alyami, Saleh. H. & Rezgui, Yacine & Kwan, Alan, 2013. "Developing sustainable building assessment scheme for Saudi Arabia: Delphi consultation approach," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 43-54.
    6. Hui Fang Yu & Md. Hasanuzzaman & Nasrudin Abd Rahim & Norridah Amin & Noriah Nor Adzman, 2022. "Global Challenges and Prospects of Photovoltaic Materials Disposal and Recycling: A Comprehensive Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-41, July.
    7. Domínguez, Adriana & Geyer, Roland, 2019. "Photovoltaic waste assessment of major photovoltaic installations in the United States of America," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 1188-1200.
    8. Ronnie D. Lipschutz & Dustin Mulvaney, 2013. "The road not taken, round II: centralized vs. distributed energy strategies and human security," Chapters, in: Hugh Dyer & Maria Julia Trombetta (ed.), International Handbook of Energy Security, chapter 22, pages 483-506, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    9. Clement Bonnet & Samuel Carcanague & Emmanuel Hache & Gondia Seck & Marine Simoën, 2019. "Vers une Géopolitique de l'énergie plus complexe ? Une analyse prospective tridimensionnelle de la transition énergétique," Working Papers hal-02971706, HAL.
    10. Sofiane Boulhidja & Adel Mellit & Sebastian Voswinckel & Vanni Lughi & Alessandro Ciocia & Filippo Spertino & Alessandro Massi Pavan, 2020. "Experimental Evidence of PID Effect on CIGS Photovoltaic Modules," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-16, January.
    11. Chen, Jinyu & Liang, Zhipeng & Ding, Qian & Liu, Zhenhua, 2022. "Quantile connectedness between energy, metal, and carbon markets," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    12. Su, Xianfang & Zhao, Yachao, 2023. "What has the strongest connectedness with clean energy? Technology, substitutes, or raw materials," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    13. Michael Redlinger & Roderick Eggert & Michael Woodhouse, 2014. "Evaluating the Availability of Gallium, Indium, and Tellurium from Recycled Photovoltaic Modules," Working Papers 2014-09, Colorado School of Mines, Division of Economics and Business.
    14. Aotian Song & Lin Lu & Zhizhao Liu & Man Sing Wong, 2016. "A Study of Incentive Policies for Building-Integrated Photovoltaic Technology in Hong Kong," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(8), pages 1-21, August.
    15. Shao, Liuguo & Zhang, Hua, 2020. "The impact of oil price on the clean energy metal prices: A multi-scale perspective," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    16. Zhou, Mei-Jing & Huang, Jian-Bai & Chen, Jin-Yu, 2022. "Time and frequency spillovers between political risk and the stock returns of China's rare earths," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    17. Song, Ying & Bouri, Elie & Ghosh, Sajal & Kanjilal, Kakali, 2021. "Rare earth and financial markets: Dynamics of return and volatility connectedness around the COVID-19 outbreak," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    18. Farrell, C.C. & Osman, A.I. & Doherty, R. & Saad, M. & Zhang, X. & Murphy, A. & Harrison, J. & Vennard, A.S.M. & Kumaravel, V. & Al-Muhtaseb, A.H. & Rooney, D.W., 2020. "Technical challenges and opportunities in realising a circular economy for waste photovoltaic modules," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    19. Stephan, André & Stephan, Laurent, 2020. "Achieving net zero life cycle primary energy and greenhouse gas emissions apartment buildings in a Mediterranean climate," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 280(C).
    20. Jain, Suresh & Sharma, Tanya & Gupta, Anil Kumar, 2022. "End-of-life management of solar PV waste in India: Situation analysis and proposed policy framework," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:337:y:2023:i:c:s0306261923002647. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.