Physical and chemical pathways for economic recycling of cadmium telluride thin-film photovoltaic modules

Author

Sasala, Richard A. ; Bohland, John ; Smigielski, Ken

Author_Institution

Solar Cells Inc., Toledo, OH, USA

fYear

1996

fDate

13-17 May 1996

Firstpage

865

Lastpage

868

Abstract

There is a great potential that polycrystalline thin-film CdTe photovoltaic module technologies will be able to reduce manufacturing costs enough to open vast new markets. One aspect that must be addressed, however, is the environmental implication of Cd. In this paper, research conducted to explore possible economic and environmentally sensible recycling techniques is described. A successful mechanical treatment was water blasting with 40000 psi water. A successful chemical technique was dissolving the semiconductors and metals with 6% sulfuric acid and 1.5% hydrogen peroxide then treated by precipitation, electroplating, or ion exchange. The result of the study show an estimated net cost of $0.04-$0.06/W

Keywords

II-VI semiconductors; cadmium compounds; dissolving; electroplating; ion exchange; precipitation (physical chemistry); recycling; semiconductor thin films; solar cells; CdTe; chemical pathway; economic recycling; electroplating; environmental aspects; hydrogen peroxide; ion exchange; manufacturing costs reduction; mechanical treatment; physical pathways; polycrystalline thin-film CdTe photovoltaic modules; precipitation; sulfuric acid; water blasting; Cadmium; Chemical technology; Costs; Environmental economics; Manufacturing; Photovoltaic systems; Recycling; Solar power generation; Transistors; Water conservation;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 1996., Conference Record of the Twenty Fifth IEEE

Conference_Location

Washington, DC

ISSN

0160-8371

Print_ISBN

0-7803-3166-4

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/PVSC.1996.564265

Filename

564265