New approaches for component recycling of crystalline solar modules

Since the starting days of solar cell mass production the exposure of process waste such as broken solar cells and damaged PV modules has been an important issue. The possibility to reclaim the module components was demonstrated in many publications. Some companies offer the recycling of PV glass and resell it as broken fragments back to the glass industry. Despite the good quality of the glass fragments (low Fe contents, no hazardous and EVA/PVB contaminations) it is impossible to return the glass parts to a float zone facility, because of reservations of the float glass manufacturers. In this paper different approaches to re-extract the complete front glass of crystalline modules for re-use-applications will be discussed. Requirements on the “second hand” front glass will be given in order to re-use it for module manufacturing. Another, not less important approach is focused on the re-extraction of silver from solar cells. The silver price has increased significantly over the last years proportional to the solar modules installed. Studies on waste quantities document approx. 0,2 % of total PV waste as manufacturing waste as well as 0,5 % of damaged during transport and installation. Different wet-chemical solutions will be introduced in order to digest the solar cell metallization in its pure components for further use.