pv life cycle management and recycling overview & prospects · · 2014-10-16pv life cycle...
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PV Life Cycle Management and Recycling – Overview & Prospects
Vasilis Fthenakis
Center for Life Cycle Analysis, Columbia University
and
Photovoltaics Environmental Research Center, Brookhaven National Laboratory
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The Economic Feasibility and Value of PV Recycling Sustainable PV Growth and the Value of Recycling
Technical and Economic Feasibility of Recycling
Projections
Pathways for Increasing Value and Minimizing Cost
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Photovoltaics are required to meet the need for abundant
electricity generation at competitive costs, whilst conserving
resources for future generations, and having environmental
impacts lower than those of alternative future energy-
options
Sustainability Metrics:
Cost
Resource Availability
Environmental Impact
Large Scale PV –Sustainability Criteria
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Large Scale PV –Sustainability Criteria
Low Cost
Resource Availability
Lowest Environmental Impact
Affordability in a
competitive world
Te in CdTe
In in CIGS
Ge in a-SiGe & III/V
Ag in c-Si
Lower than alternatives Life Cycle Impacts & Risks
Zweibel, Mason & Fthenakis, A Solar Grand Plan, Scientific American, 2008
Fthenakis, Mason & Zweibel, The technical, geographical and economic feasibility for solar energy in the US, Energy Policy, 2009
Fthenakis, The sustainability of thin-film PV, Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2009
Fthenakis, Sustainability metrics for extending thin-film PV to terawatt levels. MRS Bulletin, 2012
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Large Scale PV –The Value of Recycling
Low Cost
Resource Availability
Lowest Environmental Impact
Affordability in a
competitive world
Te in CdTe
In in CIGS
Ge in a-SiGe & III/V
Ag in c-Si
Lower than alternatives Life Cycle Impacts & Risks
Zweibel, Mason & Fthenakis, A Solar Grand Plan, Scientific American, 2008
Fthenakis, Mason & Zweibel, The technical, geographical and economic feasibility for solar energy in the US, Energy Policy, 2009
Fthenakis, The sustainability of thin-film PV, Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2009
Fthenakis, Sustainability metrics for extending thin-film PV to terawatt levels. MRS Bulletin, 2012
Recycling
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CdTe PV Production Constraints (based on material availability: primary+recycling)
Annual Growth (GW/yr)
Fthenakis V., MRS Bulletin, 37, 425, 2012
0
50
100
150
200
2010 2020 2030 2040 2050 2060 2070 2080 2090 2100
Optimistic
Most likely
Conservative
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
2010 2020 2030 2040 2050 2060 2070 2080 2090 2100
Te
(M
T/y
r)
Tellurium Availability for PV (MT/yr)
Low
High
Recycling every 30-yrs
10% loss in collection
10% loss in recycling
Fthenakis V., Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews 13, 2746, 2009
Recoverable Materials
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Value of Materials in PV Products
Material Price ($/kg) Products Indium 700 CIGS
Gallium 650 CIGS Silver 600* c-Si
Tellurium 100 CdTe Silicon 12** c-Si
Cadmium 4*** CdTe Germanium 1200 III/V, a-Si
Glass 0.07+ All
Aluminum $1.6/kg * Silver has been as high as $1600/kg in the last decade CIGS also contains valuable molybdenum and selenium ** UMG grade: $12; 6N-8N: $20; Recovered Si wafers: $25-40/kg ***Cadmium has low intrinsic value, but there is value in avoiding hazardous waste disposal costs + Glass cullet prices range from $3 to $75/tonne depending on purity
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Environmental Evaluation of c-Si PV recycling
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Wambach et al., 3rd Int PV Recycling Conf., Rome, 2013
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Filtration
Facility
PV Module Waste
Column I
Cu
Column II
Cu
Column I
Cd, Fe
Column II
Cd, Fe
Leach
Device
Clean Glass
Leachate Solution
(Te, Cd, Cu, Fe)
Elution Solution
(Cu) CdSO4
Cd
Electrowinning
Cell
Copper Recovery (?)
Removal of Cu from Liquid
Using Resin M4195
Sp
en
t H
2S
O4
So
luti
on
Glass Slurry
H2S
O4
H2O2
Cadmium Metal
Recycling of Spent Electrolyte
Effluent Solution
(Te)
Sulfide Precipitation
Removal of Cd and Fe from Liquid
Using Resin Amberlyst 15
Elution of Column
M4195
Elution of Column
Amberlyst 15
Tellurium Sulfides
Fthenakis V. and Wang W., Separating Te from Cd Waste Patent No 7,731,920, June 8, 2010
Wang W. and Fthenakis V.M. Kinetics Study on Separation of Cadmium from Tellurium in Acidic Solution Media Using Cation Exchange Resin, Journal of Hazardous Materials, B125, 80-88, 2005
Fthenakis V.M and Wang W., Extraction and Separation of Cd and Te from Cadmium Telluride Photovoltaic Manufacturing Scrap, Progress in Photovoltaics, 14:363-371, 2006.
Thin-film Recycling R&D at BNL: CdTe PV Modules
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Pure Material Recovery Challenges & Perspectives
Sulfuric acid leaching method yields a solution containing several impurities, e.g. Cu, Fe, Al, Na, Ca, Si, Mg, and other. Fe and Al are particularly troublesome.
Production of high purity cadmium and tellurium products are compromised with the presence of so many contaminants
The Glass-EVA separation is not complete precluding its reuse in flat glass manufacturing
Current end-use of recycled glass: Beads, fiberglass at only $3-$30 /tonne
Use as clean cullet in flat soda-lime glass would bring $50-$75 /tonne
Flat Glass – Soda lime glass
– Made via Float Process
– Markets include:
• Architectural
• Photovoltaics
• Display
• Automotive
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Projections of Glass Needs in PV
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Gla
ss (
bill
ion
sq
uar
e m
ete
rs)
YearCurrent Flat Glass Capacity (billion sq m)
Aggressive Annual Glass Consumption for PV (billion sq m)
Most Likely Annual Glass Consumption for PV (billion sq m)
Conservation Annual Glass Consumption for PV (billion sq m)
50% growth in PV per year 40%
30%
Burrows and Fthenakis, Solar Materials and Solar Cells, in press
Architectural Glass Recycling
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Glass (cullet) is already
regularly recycled from
internal and post industrial
sources
Pure cullet can be recycled into new float glass.
Contaminated cullet can be “downcycled” into fiberglass
Low concentration cullet (i.e. demolition waste) can be “downcycled” into aggregate.
Glass and PV: Scale of Systems
• LowE Glass– Float Plant
• Produces 300-1000 tons of
glass per day
– Uses 60-200 tons of recycled
cullet
• PV Manufacturing Plant
• 100 MW – 1 GW per year
• 2000 - 20,000 m2 panels per day
• Uses 30-300 tons glass per day
• PV Field
• Roughly same size as 1 year of plant
production 21
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• Glass-polymer separations (to enhance glass value)
• Prevent Glass contamination with metal
• CIGS recycling
• Design for the environment and reliability/longevity
• Assess recyclability of new PV types
• PV Recycling System (Collection+Recycling) Cost modeling
Remaining R&D Needs
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Model for CdTe PV Recycling Cost-Value Analysis *
Process flow of CdTe PV Recycling
*Jun-Ki Choi and Vasilis Fthenakis, Journal of Industrial Ecology, 2010
Decision tree for various scenarios
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Major PV Sustainability metrics include cost, resource availability, and
environmental impacts
These three aspects are closely related; recycling spent modules will
become increasingly important in resolving cost, resource, and
environmental constraints to large scales of sustainable growth
The technical and economic feasibility of recycling currently commercial PV
modules is demonstrated
Opportunities exist in reducing recycling costs by improving the purity of
recovered materials and optimizing system costs
email: [email protected]
www.clca.columbia.edu
www.pv.bnl.gov
Conclusion