Materials processing in solar module recycling

Abstract

Embodiments relate to processing materials in recycling of used solar panels. A used solar panel may comprise components manufactured from materials of high purity, that are expensive to prepare from scratch. Examples of such high purity materials can include but are not limited to: metals (silver; copper; tin; lead), photovoltaic material (e.g., precisely doped crystalline silicon; CdTe), and optically transparent materials (e.g., optical glass; plastics). Accordingly, embodiments recover one or more high purity materials from a starting material pre-processed from a used solar module, by using a recycling process comprising multiple successive separation events. Such events can include, but are not limited to: chemical separation (leaching, filtration, precipitation), physical separation (e.g., shredding/sieving), thermal separation (e.g., furnace heating), and/or electrical separation (e.g., electrowinning, electrostatic). Various fractions separated during the recycling process flow, are enriched in valuable materials and hence available for reuse at lower cost relative to materials prepared from scratch.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.