Recycling of waste photovoltaic modules through renewable energy driven molten salt pyrolysis

Disposal of large volume of EOL PV modules in an environmentally friendly way is becoming a major challenge for the global PV industry. The project aims at developing a renewable energy driven molten salt pyrolysis process for polyethylene-co-vinyl acetate (EVA) removal to achieve a cheap, clean and efficient end-of-life (EOL) photovoltaic (PV) module recycling process. By immersing the EOL PV modules in molten salt, the drawbacks of the existing EVA removal processes can be avoided. The levelized cost and potential carbon footprint per module of the new recycling process should be significantly lower than the traditional thermal pyrolysis process. The process will be developed based on a close collaboration between KTH, Aprilice AB, and Fasadglas Bäcklin AB. A lab scale integrated process will be demonstrated with the help of KTH’s low flux solar simulator, and the techno-economic potential of large-scale (10-100 modules per hour) processes will be assessed.

Elektronik Återvinning