The method is easy to scale and automate and can be deployed to recycle large number of solar panels at the end of their life cycle.Researchers from Wuhan University and Northeastern University in China have developed a new approach for safe and environment-friendly recycling of solar panels. As an additional bonus, the approach is also more energy efficient and addresses concerns about an impending solar waste crisis in the future.
Although the technology exists to recycle components such as silicon, silver, and aluminum, the major components of solar power plants, it involves highly reactive nitric acid and generates someResearchers at Wuhan and Northeastern universities in China have addressed these concerns by developing a more eco-friendly approach to recycling solar panel components.
The researchers in China replaced the acids with a molten mixture of sodium and potassium hydroxide , which is highly reactive with any component it comes in contact with. Elements such as tin, copper, and lead used in the solder oxidize in the air and can be recovered in a sodium hydroxide solution. Lead and tin can be separated using electroplating.