SBIR Phase II: Profitable Recycling of Silicon Solar Cells and Modules

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是使“绿色”太阳能产业真正绿色。随着太阳能组件的部署迅速扩大，组件废弃物也将迅速增加。国际可再生能源机构（IRENA）估计，到2030年初，模块废物将大量出现，到2050年，它们将达到7800万吨。如今，大多数模块废弃物最终都被填埋了。该SBIR项目将开发一种技术，以最大限度地提高模块回收的收入。它有可能在没有任何政府补贴的情况下实现有利可图的回收业务。通过回收组件中所有有价值的组件，我们的技术有可能从7800万吨组件中产生高达600亿美元的收入。拟议的项目为硅太阳能电池和模块开发可持续的回收过程和相关设备。该项目的目标是分离和回收电池和模块中所有有价值的、有毒的和笨重的组件，包括太阳级硅、银、铅、铜、铝、锡和玻璃。太阳级硅回收率的目标是85%，金属回收率的目标，特别是银，超过90%。根据今天太阳级硅和银的价格，我们的技术回收的收入是15美元/模块，而今天的技术是3.5美元/模块。该项目的主要工作将是开发硅太阳能电池回收的原型，并优化生产环境的过程。原型机的目标吞吐量是每天多达50公斤的太阳能电池废物。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project is to make the 'green' solar industry truly green. As the deployment of solar modules expands rapidly, so will module wastes. The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) estimates that module wastes will appear in large quantities by early 2030's and by 2050 they will total 78 million tonnes. Today most module wastes end up in landfills. This SBIR project will develop a technology to maximize the revenue from module recycling. It has the potential to enable a profitable recycling business without any government subsidy. By recovering all the valuable components in modules, our technology has the potential to generate up to $60 billion in revenue from 78 million tonnes of modules.The proposed project develops sustainable recycling processes and related equipment for silicon solar cells and modules. The goal of the project is to separate and recover all the valuable, toxic, and bulky components in cells and modules including solar-grade silicon, silver, lead, copper, aluminum, tin, and glass. The target for solar-grade silicon recovery is 85% and the target for metal recovery, especially silver, is over 90%. The revenue from recycling, based on today's prices for solar-grade silicon and silver, is $15/module by our technology, as compared to $3.50/module by today's technology. The primary work of this project will be developing a prototype for silicon solar cell recycling and optimizing the process for a production environment. The target throughput of the prototype is up to 50 kg of solar cell wastes per day.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.