Solar photovoltaic panels closed

End-of-life (EoL) solar photovoltaic panel (PVP) recycling has undergone significant technological development in recent decades. Initially, recycling of EoL PVP prioritised mass-based bulk material recovery.

Generally speaking, the metal and glass used to manufacture a PV panel can be infinitely recyclable (Reck and Graedel, 2012), however, in the PV industry, reuse of PV materials and waste generation at the EoL are challenges that still needs to be overcome to fully implement a closed-loop in the PV industry.

However, this growth brings challenges associated with end-of-life (EOL) management of photovoltaic (PV) modules. Recycling, an important pillar of the circular economy, has a pivotal role in the liberation and recovery of embedded materials present in the EOL PV modules.

And while the environmental impact of their construction has received much attention, what happens at the end of their life cycle has garnered less scrutiny. At present, only about 10% of PV panels are recycled, with the majority being dumped, burned, or buried.

Reducing the harmful effects of photovoltaic (PV) panels manufacture, functioning, as well as end-of-life (EoL) is crucial to their sustainability (Celik et al. 2017a; Lins et al. 2014). Investigators have looked at the ecological consequences of photovoltaic power over its entire life span (Celik et al. 2017b; Serrano-Lujan et al. 2015).

Landfilling and disposal are not the most desirable method for treating EOL PV panel. Even if the PV panels are landfilled properly, some potential impacts must be considered. Open loop and closed loop recycling are the two methods of recycling process (Farrell et al. 2020). In open loop method, lesser quality substances can be recovered.