CHEMICAL, THERMAL AND LASER PROCESSES IN RECYCLING OF PHOTOVOLTAIC SILICON SOLAR CELLS AND MODULES

In recent years, photovoltaic power generation systems have been gaining unprecedented attention as an environmentally beneficial method to solve the energy problem. From the economic point of view the pure silicon, which can be recapture from the used cells, is the most important material due to its cost and shortage. In the paper selected methods of used or damaged module and cells recycling and experimental results are presented. Advantages and disadvantages of these techniques are described, what could be helpful during the optimization of the method. The recycling process of PV module consists of two main steps: separation of cells and its refining. During the first step cells are separated due to the thermal or chemical methods usage. Next, the separated cells are refining. During this process useless layers are removed: antireflection, metallization and p-n junction layer, for silicon base - ready to the next use - gaining. This refining step was realized with the use of chemical and laser treatment as well.