Physical and chemical pathways for economic recycling of cadmium telluride thin-film photovoltaic modules
- 1 January 1996
- conference paper
- Published by Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
- No. 01608371,p. 865-868
- https://doi.org/10.1109/pvsc.1996.564265
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
This publication has 6 references indexed in Scilit:
- Environmentally responsible production, use and disposition of Cd-bearing PV modulesPublished by Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) ,2002
- An assessment of the environmental impacts of thin film cadmium telluride modules based on life cycle analysisPublished by Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) ,2002
- Strategies for recycling CdTe photovoltaic modulesPublished by Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) ,2002
- Health and environmental hazards of CdTe photovoltaic module production, use and decommissioningPublished by Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) ,2002
- Health, safety and environmental issues relating to cadmium usage in photovoltaic energy systemsPublished by Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) ,1990
- Harnessing Solar PowerPublished by Springer Nature ,1990