Recycling

A Brazilian research group has developed a new method that uses the unique properties of supercritical water to recycle end-of-life solar panels. The scientists claim the novel approach is able to achieve a 99.6% organic degradation, without using toxic or hazardous chemicals.

Attero Recycling, India’s largest e-waste and lithium-ion battery recycler, recently processed samples from the Jammu and Kashmir mining belt and was able to recover 200 PPM (parts per million) of lithium carbonate, which was close to the ballpark range shared by the government of India. Nitin Gupta, chief executive officer and co-founder of Attero Recycling, speaks to pv magazine about the significance of their extraction and refining methods in ensuring India’s self-reliance in critical battery-grade materials. 

E-waste recycler Eco Recycling (Ecoreco) will use the technology developed by the Centre for Materials for Electronics Technology (CMET), under India’s Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY), to recover valuable elements from end-of-life lithium batteries.

Solar glass manufacturer Borosil Renewables is seeking technology partners to develop and scale its PV module recycling initiative.

Maharashtra-based RecycleKaro will set up a plant to produce nickel metal from scrap lithium-ion batteries and nickel hydroxide. The plant is set for commissioning by December end and is expected to produce 1,200 tonnes of nickel metal annually.

A research group in the United States has developed a process to recover lead in its metallic form so that it can be reused in the PV industry. The process relies on a leaching solution based on a combination of acetic acid (CH3COOH) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), which the researchers said leaches the lead ‘in a matter of minutes.’

French eco-organization Soren, which collects and recycles end-of-life solar panels, has published its 2022 annual report. Last year, more than 10 million solar panels were put on the market in France, up 25% from 2021.

The Dutch cabinet said it will support solar factories that will produce panels with a circular economy approach. It also allocated €296 million to support battery manufacturing.

A new study proposes a blockchain-based solar passports framework to address the PV waste management challenge in India. It says such a framework would enable transparent tracking and verification of PV panels throughout their lifecycle, ensuring efficient asset monetization and promoting sustainable practices within the solar industry.

Scientists in Belgium are exploring the potential of recycled silicon in solar modules at the end of their life cycle for reuse in low-cost, higher-energy-density storage technologies. They claim EV batteries using this silicon may allow faster recharging and travel longer distances on a single charge.