Recycling of solar photovoltaic panels: Techno-economic assessment in waste management perspective

This work assessed the economic sustainability of photovoltaic panels (PV) recycling. The PV throughout and silver (Ag) concentration in PVs are the main factor affecting recycling. For high Ag concentrations (0.2%), the recycling is sustainable without PV recycling fee if the PV throughput is higher than 18,000 t/yr. Lower processing volumes enable sustainability only with recycling fees from 0% up to 46% of the total annualized costs in the throughput range 18,000-9000 t/yr. For low Ag concentrations (0.05%) recycling fees are instead always needed to achieve profitability, unless the throughput is higher than 43,000 t/yr. Given the high Ag revenues, efforts should be done towards its recovery. If however a mixed silver-silicon fraction was sold for more than 50-70% of its actual value depending on the Ag concentration, a simplified process without hydrometallurgical separation could generate higher profitability on the short and long term. Given the decreasing Ag content in PVs, the profitability in recycling also depends on when the investments are realized. In the medium Ag concentration scenario and for Ag prices of 600 $/kg, PV fees are always required for the net present value (NPV) to be higher than CAPEX. The later the investment, the higher the PV throughputs and PV fees required to generate the same NPV. Investing in 2025 under the hypothesis of a regular loss scenario and an Ag price of 750 $/kg is the only condition that produces NPVs higher than CAPEX without PV fees if the throughput is at least 30,000 t/yr.

Automated summary

This study assesses the economic sustainability of PV recycling, identifying PV throughput and silver concentration as key factors. High silver concentration enables sustainable recycling without fees for throughput higher than 18,000 t/yr, while low silver concentration requires fees unless the throughput exceeds 43,000 t/yr.