Advances in Photovoltaic Module Recycling - Literature Review and Update to Empirical Life Cycle Inventory Data and Patent Review: IEA PVPS Task 12: PV Sustainability

Global cumulative installed solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity exceeded 1 TW in 2022, and deployment is expected to accelerate over the next decade. With PV industry scale-up there is increasing recognition that the volume of defective, damaged, and spent modules will expand rapidly in the decades ahead. Module management is becoming a pressing concern for owners and operators of solar generation systems. Development and optimization of collection, triage, repair, refurbishment, reuse, and recycling pathways are needed to convert PV materials into assets that contribute to the circular economy and improve environmental responsibility, rather than creating new waste streams. PV modules that cannot be repaired or refurbished have reached end of life (EOL) and can often be recycled. A 2016-2017 IEA PVPS Task 12 study funded by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and EPRI reviewed PV recycling technologies in Europe, including four commercial glass and metal recyclers that process batches of PV modules on a periodic basis and one pilot-scale recycling process customized for PV modules.1,2 Heath et al. showed that recovery of high-value materials like silicon and silver at high purity is needed to improve the economics of recycling.3 New commercial and demonstration-scale recycling options for PV modules have emerged in the past few years, including some that claim to recover silicon and silver. Limited public data are available on recycling processes for pilot or commercial facilities. The objective of this study was to identify advances in PV recycling technology that have the potential to be affordable, technically feasible, and environmentally responsible. A survey of recyclers, literature review, and patent search identified industry trends and advances in PV recycling processes. Additionally, leading recyclers supplied life cycle inventory (LCI) data and process flow diagrams for facilities that use advanced recycling treatments to separate PV materials with high quality and yield.