The University of New South Wales (UNSW) in partnership with industry, has officially opened on campus the Australian Research Council (ARC) Hub for Photovoltaic Solar Panel Recycling and Sustainability.
Seeking to shift solar panel waste from currently being a 100,000-tonne-per-year problem to a sustainable system, the university says the Hub is the first research initiative in the country dedicated to developing a circular solar economy.
UNSW Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research and Enterprise Professor Bronwyn Fox said as Australia accelerates towards a net-zero future, the technologies enabling the transition must also be sustainable.
“This Hub brings together world-leading Australian engineers, scientists, policy makers and industry to transform end-of-life solar panels from an emerging waste challenge into a valuable resource, helping build a circular economy and strengthening Australia’s clean energy leadership,” Prof. Fox said.
Mining panels for resources
Methods to recover and reuse valuable resources built into panels, such as glass silicon, silver and copper is a key focus of the Hub.
Image: University of New South Wales
UNSW School of Chemical Engineering Green Metals expert and Hub Director Professor Yansong Shen said recovering valuable materials requires improved technologies for separating and soring panel components, and redesigning panels so they are easier to recycle.
“We want to help build a robust recycling industry in Australia that creates jobs, supports new supply chains and improves our sustainable energy security.”
The Hub is funded by a $5 million (USD 3.5 million) grant from ARC’s Industrial Transformation Research program.
A UNSW team has already patented a process that utilises conventional methods to separate the large components, such as the aluminium frame and glass sheets, and crushes cells, with tests indicating the entire crushing and sieving process takes about 5-15 minutes to effectively separate 99% of the materials, including silver.
Pan Pacific Recycling
The Hub’s opening follows a claim by Federal Shadow Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction Dan Tehan’s in the Australian newspaper who is quoted as saying solar panels “will not recycle”.
Australian recycling company Pan Pacific Recycling (PPR) counters that claim, telling pv magazine that it is currently recycling 99% of solar panel materials, processed at its 400,000 panel-per-year Queensland facility, where chemical waste is also reused.
Image: Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers
“PPR is already doing it. [We are] urrently selling recovered copper at around $14k / tonne and aluminium at $3k / tonne. Projected material revenue for copper alone is $1.1 million and aluminium $1.9 million in the current financial year,” a spokesperson said.
“PPR is scaling as fast as it can to meet [demand]. The real story isn’t that recycling can’t work, it’s that an Australian company has cracked the technology and is racing to scale before the tsunami hits.”
The Australian government has initiated a $24.7 million National Pilot Program to support the establishment of 100 collection sites for end-of-life panels, to recover 250,000 panels, and valuable materials.
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