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| Module recycling |
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| Module recycling |
SolarMaterial offers an industry-wide solution for value-conserving recycling of all commercial PV modules. Defective modules of all designs and sizes are recycled.
| Type of fault |
Cause |
| Glass breakage |
Transport or installation damage, spontaneous breakage, storm, lightning strike |
| Defective laminate |
Delamination, discoloration, corrosion |
| Electrical faults |
Connection socket faults, insulation damage, bypass diode faults, hot-spots, cable or plug corrosion |
| Other |
Defective structure, frame faults, production rejects |
Deinstallation, storage and transport
For successful value-conserving recycling, all unnecessary consequential damages resulting from incorrect module disassembly or transport must be avoided:
Do not bend laminates with broken
glass panes further or shatter them! |
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| Stack the modules flat! |
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Do not throw the modules into the
container from the roof! |
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| Avoid damaging the embedded cells! |
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| Do not remove sockets and frames. |
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The modules can be transported and stored using standard packaging.
| Wood or cardboard cases |
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| Discarded or disposable frames |
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Disposable or europallets (also in pallet
exchange system) |
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The recycling process
| Process sequence: |
Disconnection of PV module
components in a thermal process step
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Disassembly of glass and frame
parts with subsequent feedback into
their individual recycling loops |
Component separation after a thermal process stage
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| Isolation of solar cells |
Isolated solar cell |
Removal of surface coating and
diffusion layer in subsequent
cleaning steps
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Silicon wafers extracted by this method
can be reprocessed into modern solar
cells with a high degree of utilization.
The efficiency of these cells matches
the efficiency of cells made of new
wafers. |
Recycled wafer |
Schematic diagram
Positive energy balance
The recycling solution for PV modules results in a positive balance, both from an economical and ecological point of view.
The energy payback time for modules with recycled wafers is only 30 percent of that of new products with the same performance. The reason for this is the huge saving of the energy required to produce a new wafer.
Further information:
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The Company
Module recycling
