PROCESS FOR TREATING SPENT PHOTOVOLTAIC PANELS

• Main Authors: TORO, LUIGI, GRANATA, GIUSEPPE, MOSCARDINI, EMANUELA, PAGNANELLI, FRANCESCA
• Format: Patent
• Language: English; French; German
• Published: 23.03.2016
• Subjects: CHEMISTRY; CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES IN THE PRODUCTION ORPROCESSING OF GOODS; CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TO WASTEWATERTREATMENT OR WASTE MANAGEMENT; FERROUS OR NON-FERROUS ALLOYS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; MAGNETIC OR ELECTROSTATIC SEPARATION OF SOLID MATERIALS FROM SOLIDMATERIALS OR FLUIDS; METALLURGY; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; PRETREATMENT OF RAW MATERIALS; PRODUCTION AND REFINING OF METALS; SEPARATING SOLID MATERIALS USING LIQUIDS OR USING PNEUMATICTABLES OR JIGS; SEPARATION BY HIGH-VOLTAGE ELECTRIC FIELDS; SEPARATION OF SOLID MATERIALS USING LIQUIDS OR USING PNEUMATICTABLES OR JIGS; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS; TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINSTCLIMATE CHANGE; TRANSPORTING; TREATMENT OF ALLOYS OR NON-FERROUS METALS

The invention relates to a process for the treatment of photovoltaic end-of-life panels, such as those made of CdTe and crystalline and amorphous silicon. The process involves automated physical and chemical operations that, combined in a sequence, allow recovering glass in the first place and also tellurium, zinc, cadmium, iron, and concentrate silicon, T1O2 and silver. By means of this process the different types of panel can also be treated all together, without any kind of preliminary selection. The process guarantees a recovery of glass of 80 to 85% by weight, which alone can satisfy the minimum target for the recovery of material imposed by the recent European directive 2012/19/EU.