There is no doubt that solar energy is playing a promising role in solving the climate crisis, and as the industry booms around the world in the coming years, there is talk and debate about whether its waste will create more pollutants than the fossil fuels it aims to replace.
With the number of unused solar panels projected to reach 170,000 to 280,000 by 2036, many companies are developing equipment to dispose of these panels.
Although laws in several countries such as the European Union, Japan and India ensure that end-of-life solar panels are properly recycled, their efforts are limited.
At the same time, several international companies began to intensify their efforts to put an end to this problem.
water vapor disposal
Japan's Nimi Solar is developing equipment for disposing of solar panels using water vapor, according to the Econotimes website.
This technology relies on the use of steam heated up to 600 degrees to evaporate the plastic and allow the recovery of more than 90% of the components, including glass and copper.
And company officials expressed their hope to market the device by next year.
The company's president, Hideyuki Sakamoto, said that more companies joining the market means that competition will drive technological innovations and reduce costs.
nitric acid
Solar Frontier KK, a subsidiary of major oil distribution company Idemitsu Kosan; It has developed a technology that allows the extraction of precious metals and other materials from used solar panels using nitric acid.
Company officials plan to start a business as soon as possible, possibly by the end of fiscal year 2024, to recycle the extracted materials.
They said the company would start processing 30,000 or more solar panels annually, and would later expand according to demand.
mechanical equipment
While Tokyo-based solar panel manufacturer NBC has developed mechanical devices that allow more than 90% of panel components to be recycled, and put them up for sale in 2019.
The device uses thermal blades that operate at 300 degrees Celsius or more to remove glass from the surface of the solar panels, and the company says the blade is able to separate components of the unit without crushing them.
The Japanese company supplied a French company specializing in the recycling of waste electrical and electronic equipment, with its equipment for dismantling solar panels.
The company claims to have dismantled nearly 25,000 end-of-life units using this equipment so far.
future challenges
Solar panels have a life span of 20 to 30 years, and contain toxic substances; Lead is among them, but the way they are designed to impermeable water means that it will take time and effort to dismantle them.
Although there are landfills dedicated to used solar panels; It will exceed its capacity limits by 2035 if there is no solution to reduce waste.
The costs of the waste disposal process, which must be borne by producers, are also a problem.
The head of the solar panel recycling office at Solar Frontier, Katsushi Takenaka, said it would be difficult to build solar farms in the future unless a disposal mechanism was in place, and there was a need to encourage the reuse of materials.
shocking predictions
By 2050, the International Renewable Energy Agency projects that about 78 million metric tons of solar panels will have expired, and the world will produce about 6 million metric tons of solar waste annually.
If producers fail to develop solutions to recycle more valuable materials such as silver and silicon, as well as put in place effective policies that support these solutions; The situation will get worse.
Failure to promote recycling solutions will create chaos in landfills, said University of Arizona solar researcher Ming Tao.
He explained that the entry of solar panels into these landfills means that many valuable resources will be wasted, and toxic substances such as lead may leak out. This creates new environmental risks.
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