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

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.