The main differences between mechanical and chemical processes in solar panel recycling are outlined below:
Mechanical Recycling
- Process: Mechanical recycling involves the physical dismantling of solar panels into their constituent parts, such as glass, metal, copper wiring, and silicon solar modules. These components are then crushed and separated through processes like magnetic separation.
- Materials Recovery: Advanced mechanical recycling can recover up to 99% of raw materials. Facilities like First Solar’s can reuse up to 90% of the semiconductor material and 90% of the glass.
- Limitations: The efficiency and availability of mechanical recycling facilities are limited, making widespread access challenging for most solar customers.
Chemical Recycling
- Process: Chemical recycling uses chemical treatments and heat to delaminate solar panels and separate their chemical components, allowing for the recapture of pure silicon. This process involves more complex chemical reactions compared to mechanical recycling.
- Materials Recovery: While chemical recycling shows promise in terms of material purity, it is still developing and faces issues related to efficiency and potential environmental impacts (e.g., handling hazardous gases).
- Limitations: Currently, chemical recycling is less commercially viable due to scalability issues and environmental concerns associated with the release of potentially harmful gases during the process.
In summary, mechanical recycling is more established and focuses on physical separation of components, while chemical recycling offers a more complex method to extract pure materials but is still in development.
Original article by NenPower, If reposted, please credit the source: https://nenpower.com/blog/what-are-the-main-differences-between-mechanical-and-chemical-processes-in-solar-panel-recycling/
