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How to recycle solar panels after scrapping

Sep 07, 2018

The average life of our solar panels is around 20-30 years. With the rapid development of the photovoltaic industry, a large number of solar energy manufacturers have been established, and solar modules have been produced in large quantities. When the year after 25, solar modules gradually completed its life course and ushered in the retirement period. According to the statistics. By 2050, the amount of solar panels will be tens of millions of tons!


Retired solar panels must be recycled in order to be environmentally responsible. Not long ago, Veolia's first photovoltaic panel recycling plant in Europe was put into operation, and the recycling rate of photovoltaic module materials exceeded 95%. The following is a detailed understanding of Huayang Green Building.

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In Roosset, in the south of France, Veolia cooperates with the European PV module recycling organization PVCycle and the French Renewable Energy Union (SyndicatdesEnergiesRenouvellables), and the first solar panel recycling plant in Europe is officially put into operation. The plant will recycle 1,300 tons of solar panels in 2018 and set a target of recycling 4,000 tons in 2022.


 Robots at work Veolia's recycling plants are able to recover 95% of the materials in crystalline silicon photovoltaic panels. Previously, aged or damaged solar panels were typically sent to glass recycling facilities to recover only glass and aluminum frames. The remaining material is sent to the cement furnace for incineration. In addition, the glass recycling plant can only recycle the special glass cup of the solar panel and mix it with other ordinary glass, resulting in waste.

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Bernard Harambillet, CEO of Veolia Waste Management Solutions, said: “The Roosset plant is the first factory in France to recycle photovoltaic panels. It demonstrates France's excellence in innovation and waste disposal. In the future, this expertise Can be applied elsewhere.'


 Recycling PV solar panels modules with robots Veolia's recycling plant specializes in “crystalline silicon” photovoltaic panels that are dead. A typical crystalline silicon solar panel is made of 65-75% glass, 10-15% aluminum frame, 10% plastic, and 3-5% silicon. Veolia's recycling plant can dismantle, sort, process and recycle 95% of its materials.

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 Photovoltaic panel recycling To improve efficiency and safety, Veolia uses automated robots to disassemble and sort solar panels.


After the sorted materials are processed and packaged, they are sent to different industries for reuse. Among them, two-thirds of the glass is recycled and becomes cullet, which is sent to the glass manufacturing industry; the aluminum frame is sent to the aluminum refinery; the waste plastic can be used as a fuel in the cement plant; the recovered silicon can be used in the precious metal industry. It is reused; finally, the remaining cables and connectors are crushed and sold as copper beads.


 Recycling of photovoltaic modules to the best of their ability and recycling, such a form of recycling solar panels will not burden the environment.