Resources, Conservation & Recycling 127 (2017) 29–41

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Resources, Conservation & Recycling

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Photovoltaic waste assessment in Mexico T

⁎
Adriana Domínguez , Roland Geyer
Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, United States

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Large growth in renewable energy technology is required to combat climate change. Photovoltaic (PV) is the
Photovoltaic most promising technology with the largest potential, and Mexico has one of the best locations to exploit solar
PV waste resources. During 2015, the Mexican government approved 7.8 GW of PV projects. This PV deployment is linked
Mexico to a great generation of PV waste once the PV systems reach their end-of-life. Considering 30 years as average
Solar energy
module lifetime, around 2045, Mexico will have 1.2 million mt of PV waste, 691 thousand mt of which are PV
PV recycling
modules waste (31 millions PV modules). Since PV modules represent only 55% of the material contained in PV
systems, this paper presents an assessment of the future PV-waste volumes in Mexico, including not only the PV
modules but the balance of system (BOS). In total, near to 1 million mt of different metals will be contained in
the PV-waste stream (42% Fe, 26% Al, 26% Si, 5% Cu). Fortunately, assuming the best available recycling
technology, around 920 thousand mt of PV waste could be recycled. Precious and valuable metals (e.g. 271 mt of
silver, 10 mt of gold, 17 mt of gallium, 10 mt of indium, 139 mt of cadmium and 100 mt of tellurium) can be
recovered. This study analyzes the PV-waste generation under different scenarios such as: market share in PV
modules technology, recycling yields for precious and critical metals, metal composition of transformers and thin
film panel development.

1. Introduction
Photovoltaic energy is a reliable and sustainable source of elec-
tricity. This renewable energy allows the increasing demand for elec-
tricity to be satisfied worldwide, without generation of greenhouse
gases during its operation. During 2015, photovoltaic solar energy ex-
perienced a 28% growth rate, the highest growth rate of renewable
energy capacity, followed by wind energy at 17% (Lins, 2016). The
total installed capacity of solar photovoltaic at the end of 2015 was
227 GW, or 1.3% of the world's electricity generation (Masson and
Brunisholz, 2015). According to the International Renewable Energy
Agency (IRENA), it is expected to reach 4500 GW by 2050. High cu-
mulative deployment rates are anticipated for some countries: China
(1731 GW), India (600 GW), the United States (600 GW), Japan
(350 GW) and Germany (110 GW). Latin America is still far from these
levels of development, however, during 2015 solar PV increased 166%
in this part of the world. Chile and Honduras contributed with 78% of
the new solar capacity installed in 2015 (see Fig. 1 (Weckend et al.,
2016). Chile is leading PV in South America, although countries like
Mexico, Brazil and Peru have adopted policies that could favor the
development of PV in the forthcoming years (Masson et al., 2014).
The first PV projects development in Mexico were off-grid
installations for rural electrification in the 1990s. Today, rooftop in-
stallations are being introduced in the commercial and residential
sector. Distributed solar PV systems can yield energy cost-savings for
commercial and residential sectors subjected to the DAC1 tariff. An
overview of the cumulative installed capacity of solar PV in Mexico is
displayed in Fig. 2. According to the Mexican Energy Secretariat
(SENER), the first solar PV installations in Mexico were used mainly for
rural electrification, supply of energy in the residential sector, water
pumping, and exterior lighting in the commercial and industrial sectors.
The year 2013 saw the greatest growth in solar capacity, up to 82 MW,
in large part due to the first large-scale solar power project, Aura solar I
(39 MW) (SENER, 2015a).
The Energy Outlook published by SENER for the years 2015 to 2029
can be seen in Fig. 2. Although these are the best predictions available,
there is a lack of data consistency. For instance, the energy outlook of
2015 shows 170 MW, however the cumulative installed capacity was
234 MW during 2015 (see Fig. 1). According to this document, Mexico
has projected 1822 MW of additional solar PV projects in the public
service and 1273 MW as distributed generation, by 2028 (SENER,
2015b). Furthermore, the survey Initiative for the Development of the
Renewable Energy in Mexico performed by PricewaterhouseCoopers
(PwC), estimates that starting in 2017, it will become economically

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: adriana.dominguez@ucsb.edu (A. Domínguez).
1
DAC (Doméstico de Alto Consumo) tariff is the highest electricity tariff paid in the residential sector. For those consumers with high electricity requirements.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2017.08.013
Received 3 February 2017; Received in revised form 11 August 2017; Accepted 13 August 2017
Available online 31 August 2017
0921-3449/ © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
A. Domínguez, R. Geyer
Fig. 2. Overview of the cumulative installed PV capacity in Mexico and projections 2016–2030.
feasible for the deployment of solar PV in residential rooftop, reaching
6.4 GW by 2020 (PwC, 2012). Moreover, by December 2015, the En-
ergy Regulatory Commission of Mexico (CRE) had approved 275 pro-
jects distributed in 28 of the 31 states of the Mexican Republic, that
together account for 7.8 GW. The projects under construction during
2016 account for 3.1 MW with the other 4.7 MW planned to begin
construction between 2016 and 2018. This means that the target of
5.6 GW predicted by SENER by 2030 will be surpassed more than 10
years earlier.
Due to Mexico's great solar potential, PV could potentially con-
tribute closer to 30 GW of power capacity in 2030, according to IRENA's
Roadmap 2030 for a Renewable Energy Future (REmap). This means
that solar PV energy predicted by SENER should be increased five times.
This 30 GW scenario will include 60% utility-scale and 40% rooftop
installations, and will require an average annual installation rate of
1.5 GW/year (IRENA, 2015). The REmap also envisions 860 MW of
solar PV rural electrification systems, in order to provide electricity to
households without access to grid power, street lighting, agricultural
pumping, mobile phone towers, etcetera.
In an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Mexico is com-
mitted to achieve a target of 25% of renewable energy by 2018, 30% by
2021 and 35% by 2024. The development of solar PV in Mexico would
contribute to the fulfillment of these targets. It is important to mention
that Mexico has one of the best locations to exploit solar resources, with
high solar irradiation levels, averaging 5.5 kWh/m2 up to 10 kWh/m2
per day, especially in the northwestern region during spring and
summer (SENER, 2016). These levels are similar to the southwestern
U.S. region, where many utility-scale solar projects are under con-
struction (SEIA, 2016). However, the development of solar PV energy is
30
Resources, Conservation & Recycling 127 (2017) 29–41
Fig. 1. Cumulative PV capacity installed in Latin America in 2015.
Data from Whiteman and Esparrago (2016), Werner et al. (2015).
linked to the generation of photovoltaic waste once the PV systems
reach the end of their lifespan (25–30 years).
As PV installations increase, the PV waste will rise as well. Hence, it
is important to draw up a plan for recycling future PV waste, since
recycling has great benefits. The recovery and reuse of secondary ma-
terials has become an important issue due to the fact that PV modules
use valuable metals (e.g. gold, silver, tellurium, indium, gallium, etc.)
and other materials (e.g. glass) capable of being recovered, recycled
and reused, sometimes within the same PV industry, contributing to the
circular economy of this industry. Furthermore, recycling can lead to a
decrease in resource depletion, a reduction of environmental impacts
associated with mining and processing of valuable and limited virgin
natural resources and energy savings.
The growth of PV is just beginning in Mexico as well as in Latin
America, and there is no regulation in regards to the disposal and
treatment of this kind of waste. As a result, it is necessary to look for
solutions to the PV waste challenge ahead of us in the coming decades.
By planning the management of PV waste, the exports of these kind of
waste to developing countries could be lessened, thereby reducing the
environmental and human health impacts derived from improper re-
cycling. Additionally, the development of a new PV waste recycling
industry will generate jobs and make a significant contribution towards
a sustainable renewable-based energy future.
This paper aims to analyze the PV waste that will be generated in
Mexico from end-of-life PV systems in the following years. It is very
important to know the kind and amount of metals that are in the PV
waste as well as other recoverable materials (e.g. glass), in order to
propose a recycling plan that ensure that enough and the right type of
recycling technology and capacity can be built. To accomplish the PV
A. Domínguez, R. Geyer Resources, Conservation & Recycling 127 (2017) 29–41

waste assessment in Mexico, a model to estimate the material content in Table 1

PV installations has been developed. In Section 2, the material com- PV technology groups.
position of each kind of PV module technology (c-Si, a-Si, CdTe and
Silicon-based (c-Si) Thin-film based Other
CIGS) is presented, taking into account the market share of PV modules
by technology as well as the specifications of modules according to Single or Monocrystalline Copper indium gallium Concentrating solar PV
several companies. Besides, the metals used in the BOS systems (sc-Si) (di)selenide (CIGS) (CPV)
Poly or multicrystalline Cadmium telluride Crystalline silicon
(without batteries) was included in the model. In Section 3, the results
(mc-Si) (CdTe) (advanced c-Si)
of PV waste projections in Mexico are presented. This includes a de- Ribbon Amorphous silicon (a-
tailed accounting of material contained in the PV systems in order to Si)
obtain the metal inventory of PV installations in Mexico. Then, a deep Emerging Thin-film
survey of recycling technologies (see Appendix A) was carried out, and Copper zinc tin
sulphide (CZTS)
the PV waste recycling model was introduced. The estimated amount of
Perovskite
metal capable of being recycled was calculated. The model was devel- Organic PV (OPV)
oped for a specific market share of PV modules by technology, recycling Dye-sensitised (DSSC)
yields for precious and critical metals, metal composition of transfor- Colloidal quantum dot
PV (QDPV)
mers and thin film panel development, therefore a sensitivity analysis
for these factors was included.

2. Material and methods where the useful lifetime of a module was considered as 25 years (BIO,
2011). The second is an IRENA/IEA Report from 2016 where the
A photovoltaic system is composed of several components such as: average lifetime of a PV panel was considered as 30 years (Weckend
(1) PV modules, which are integrated by interconnected solar cells, (2) et al., 2016). The highlighted data for year 2014 was considered as the
inverter, to convert the electric current from DC to AC, (3) transformer, typical market share for the projects that will be developed in Mexico
(4) mounting structure, required for some PV systems like rooftop- for the years 2016 to 2018.
mounted systems or utility-scale power stations, (5) cabling, (6)
tracking systems, to improve the caption of sun light and (7) batteries, Mat. content (kg)
in the case of off-grid PV systems that will require energy storage. All Install Cap. (W )*Mat. composition(kg/m2)*Market Share(%)
=
additional components to the PV panels are known as balance of system Module Nominal Power (Wp/ m2)
(BOS). (1)
In Table 2 other technologies include concentrating solar PV (CPV)
2.1. Methodology to estimate material content in PV waste
and organic PV/dye-sensitised cells (OPV/DSC). Due to lack of material
composition of the modules identified as other technologies, its per-
Extensive research on material contained in PV modules as well as
centage of market share was added to the c-Si technology because it is
the BOS system (inverters, transformers, cabling, mounting and
currently the most used kind of photovoltaic panels. Hence, a market
tracking) was performed and applied to Mexican PV installations. Since
share of 91% for c-Si is used; it includes 55% of multicrystalline and
the Ecoinvent database 3.3 has the most recent information about
45% of monocrystalline silicon panels. The market share of a-Si was
materials used in each technology utilized in PV systems, data on ma-
considered as 2% because trends show that it has been discontinued due
terial content of different PV module technologies and the BOS is
to low efficiency (Weckend et al., 2016; Jean et al., 2015).
mainly based on the Photovoltaics Report of the Swiss Centre for Life
The technical data for each kind of PV module was taken from the
Cycle Inventories (Jungbluth et al., 2009). This report shows the unit
Ecoinvent database 3.3, additionally some commercial panels are pre-
process raw data for different PV technologies production. In order to
sented as well in Table 3. The efficiency is calculated assuming the
ensure that the material content data taken from this report corre-
standard condition of 1000 W/m2 of irradiance and 25 °C. The unit
sponds with the material composition of actual PV panels, the total
process raw data for the photovoltaic panel c-Si is 1 m2 of PV panel,
mass was calculated and benchmarked against the weight of commer-
with 60 solar cells (156 × 156 cm2) with a capacity of 224 Wp. How-
cial PV modules. Additionally, several information sources were con-
ever, as no data about weight was given, 23 kg was taken from the
sulted and are also given for comparison.
average weight of this kind of c-Si modules according to the technical
specifications of the solar panel producers enlisted in Table 3 for c-Si.
2.1.1. PV modules
A PV panel contains an average of 10 metallic elements such as
There are several photovoltaic module technologies which are
silver, gold, copper, nickel, zinc and aluminum. These elements are
usually named according to their main light-absorbing material. In this
profusely used with recycling yields ranging from 20% (i.e. mo-
paper, PV modules are grouped in three categories: silicon based, thin-
lybdenum and tantalum) to 100% (i.e. aluminum and copper), de-
film based and other, as shown in Table 1. Frequently, crystalline si-
pending on the metal. PV systems contain up to 20 different elements,
licon modules are often known as first generation (G1) technologies,
thin film modules are classified as a second generation (G2) technolo-
Table 2
gies, and emerging thin-film technologies and any other modules are Market share of PV modules by technology.
known as third generation (G3) technologies. Additionally, PV tech-
nologies can be classified in accordance with their structure in two Installation Source PVWaste Market share (%)
categories: wafer-based (fabricated on semiconductor wafers, e.g. c-Si)
c-Si a-Si CdTe CIGS Other
and thin-film cells (semiconducting films deposited onto a substrate)
(Jean et al., 2015). 2000 BIO (2011) 2025 90 10
In order to calculate the material content of the PV systems, Eq. (1) 2005 BIO (2011) 2030 95 3 2
is applied. It is important to know the market share of PV technologies. 2010 BIO (2011) 2035 80 2 17 1
2014 Weckend et al. (2016) 2044 92 5 2 1
The kind of PV module technology used for a specific project de-
2020 Weckend et al. (2016) 2050 82 5.2 5.8 7
termines characteristics such as material composition, area, and module 2030 Weckend et al. (2016) 2060 70.4 4.7 15.7 9.2
nominal power. Table 2 shows the market share of PV modules ac-
cording to two sources. The first is an European Study from 2011, The data marked in bold numbers were used to perform the calculations.

31
A. Domínguez, R. Geyer Resources, Conservation & Recycling 127 (2017) 29–41

Table 3
Photovoltaic panels specifications.

Source PV modules Area [m2] Power [Wp] Weigh [kg] Efficiency [%]

Ecoinvent 3.3 c-Si 1.46 224 23 15.3

Perseidsolar 1.69 225 25 13.3
First Sunergy 1.59 230 23 14.4
Ecoinvent 3.3 a-Si 2.3 128 18.86 5.6
Sharp 1.4 130 26 9.3
Sunelec 1.42 100 24 7
Kaneka 1.22 110 18.3 9
Ecoinvent 3.3 CdTe 0.72 65 12 9
First Solar 0.72 85 12 11.8
GE 0.72 78 13 10.8
Ecoinvent 3.3 CIGS 0.72 80 12.6 11
Xsunx 1.6 160 28 10
Stion 1.09 135 16.8 12.3
tsmc 1.09 145 17.5 13.3

The data marked in bold numbers were used to perform the calculations.

as shown in Table 4. Many are valuable, such as precious and special
metals, four of them are identified as critical raw materials, and some
are catalogued as hazardous.
The composition of the waste stream coming from PV systems
changes with the development of new technologies and the search of
environmentally friendly materials. Metals used in PV systems can be
classified in five categories of materials: base and special metals in-
cluding ferrous metals (iron and steel, which accounts 45% of the total
weight), precious metals, hazardous or toxic metals, critical metals
(metals essential for high-technology and green applications, but their
supplies are susceptible to economical and political issues) and other
materials (e.g. glass and EVA).
Critical materials identified in Table 4 represent a key source
needed to manufacture products for the clean energy economy world-
wide. Hence, it is assumed that Mexico or any other country will be
affected by the supply chain disruptions and price fluctuations related
to these valuable resources. Furthermore, Mexico is not a producer of
critical metals, except for the production of 44,000 mt of magnesite per
year. Any attempt to recycle critical metals will support the global
market for secondary raw materials.
The average material composition of the different PV modules
technologies analyzed in this paper, is presented in Table 5. Additional
material composition data can be found in (Weckend et al., 2016; BIO,
2011; Corcelli et al., 2016; Katsigiannis et al., 2015; Choi and
Fthenakis, 2014; Latunussa et al., 2016; Radziemska et al., 2010). The
Ecoinvent database 3.3 has the most comprehensive material compo-
sition data and was used to generate the material inventory of each PV
module technology. The material inventory is a comprehensive com-
pilation of the materials (e.g. metals, EVA, glass) contained in a pho-
tovoltaic solar module. Depending on the PV technology, some modules
can contain hazardous (e.g. Cd used in a-Si, CdTe and CIGS or Pb used
in c-Si and CdTe) and critical materials. For instance, Table 5 shows the
requirements of Gallium (in CIGS), Indium (in a-Si and CIGS), Magne-
sium (in c-Si, a-Si and CIGS) and Tellurium (in a-Si and CdTe), which
are critical raw materials according to the European Union and the U.S.
Department of Energy (Ad-hoc Working Group, 2010; DOE, 2011).
The specific amounts of all materials contained in each kind of solar
panel are presented in Table 5. Glass is widely used in thin film PV
panels because glass is the solid and low-cost backing where the thin
layer of semiconductor material is applied. An exception to this is a-Si
which uses aluminum (42%) and steel (40%) as back sheet. The en-
capsulant material EVA (Ethyl Vinyl Acetate) accounts for 4 to 16% of
the material composition of the PV panels. C-Si contains 10% steel
whilst CdTe uses only 1%. Silicon represents 0.8% of material compo-
sition in c-Si technology because it is used for the solar cells, and al-
though a-Si uses Si as well, it is used in a thin layer that only represents
0.0026%. Aluminum is another metal broadly used in PV panels, be-
cause the frame of modules is made of aluminum alloys, accounting for

Table 4
Metal used in photovoltaic systems.

Component Precious metals Base and special metals Toxic/hazardous metalsa Other metals Critical materialsb Other materials

PV technology
c-Si Ag Al, Cu, Ni Pb Si Mg Glass, EVA
Fe, Ti, Sn, Zn
a-Si Al, Cu, Fe Cd Si Mg, Te, In
Cr, Mn, Zn
CdTe Al, Cu, Fe, Ti Cd, Pb Si Te Glass, EVA
Cr, Sn, Zn
CIGS Al, Cu, Mo Cd, Se Mg, Ga, In Glass, EVA
Sn, Zn
Inverter Ag, Au Al, Cu, Fe Pb Mg
Mn, Ni, Ta
Sn, Zn
Transformer Al, Cu, Fe
Cabling Cu
Mounting structure Al, Fe, Zn
Tracking Al, Cu, Fe, Zn

a
According to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA, 2016).
b
According to the European Union and U.S. Department of Energy's Critical Material Strategy (Ad-hoc Working Group, 2010; DOE, 2011).

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A. Domínguez, R. Geyer Resources, Conservation & Recycling 127 (2017) 29–41

Table 5
Average material composition of PV modules per technology.

Technology metal c-Si a-Si CdTe CIGS

[kg/m2] [%] [kg/m2] [%] [kg/m2] [%] [kg/m2] [%]

Ag 8.89E−03 5.77E−02
Al 2.54E+00 1.65E+01 3.24E+00 4.16E+01 1.50E−02 9.04E−02 1.51E+00 8.58E+00
Cd 4.00E−04 5.13E−03 2.00E−02 1.20E−01 3.00E−02 1.71E−01
Cr 4.40E−05 5.65E−04 3.00E−03 1.81E−02
Cu 1.13E−01 7.31E−01 7.00E−02 8.99E−01 5.00E−01 3.01E+00 5.00E−02 2.84E−01
Ga 1.00E−02 5.68E−02
In 9.00E−04 1.16E−02 5.00E−03 2.84E−02
Fe 5.80E−05 7.45E−04
Mg 8.02E−02 5.20E−01 1.02E−01 1.31E+00 4.70E−02 2.67E−01
Mn 7.30E−05 9.37E−04
Mo 1.00E−02 5.68E−02
Ni 1.63E−04 1.06E−03
Pb 7.20E−04 4.67E−03 7.00E−04 4.22E−03
Se 1.00E−02 5.68E−02
Si 1.22E−01 7.91E−01 2.00E−04 2.57E−03 5.00E−02 3.01E−01
Sn 9.02E−06 5.86E−05 2.30E−07 1.39E−06 1.00E−02 5.68E−02
Steel 1.47E+00 9.51E+00 3.10E+00 3.98E+01 2.00E−01 1.20E+00
Te 5.00E−04 6.42E−03 2.00E−02 1.20E−01
Ti 8.01E−07 5.20E−06 2.30E−08 1.39E−07
Zn 1.20E−06 7.81E−06 2.90E−05 3.72E−04 3.00E−08 1.81E−07 1.00E−02 5.68E−02
EVA 1.00E+00 6.50E+00 1.24E+00 1.59E+01 6.00E−01 3.61E+00 9.00E−01 5.12E+00
Glass 1.01E+01 6.54E+01 3.58E−02 4.59E−01 1.52E+01 9.15E+01 1.50E+01 8.53E+01
Total 1.54E+01 1.00E+02 7.82E+00 1.00E+02 1.66E+01 1.00E+02 1.76E+01 1.00E+02

The total material composition of PV modules are highlighted in bold.

9–42% of mass. Magnesium is present in the three panels that use an composition of this inverter. Steel accounts for 75%, followed by 17%
aluminum frame because the aluminum alloy considered is AlMg3. The copper and 7% aluminum.
thin film CdTe solar modules do not have a frame. Copper is used for The inverters use an adaptable technology to acquire the maximum
interconnectors accounting for 0.3–3%. output from the solar panels. In an attempt to assure that the inverter
will be operating at its maximum output, the PV arrays are usually
oversized by using an inverter-sizing ratio around 1.15 (Mondol et al.,
2.1.2. PV inverters
2006). This ratio is used in Eq. (2), which provides an estimation of the
Generally the solar PV system will be integrated into the grid, which
number of inverters needed for a specific PV capacity.
means that the DC supply must be converted to grid frequency alter-
nating current (AC). This is performed with an electronic device called PV Capacity (W )*Inverter Sizing ratio
Number of inverters =
an inverter. There are different types of inverters available to suit dif- Inverter Capacity (W ) (2)
ferent applications. For instance, the micro inverter controls the power
of an individual solar panel and is used often in domestic and com-
mercial installations. Another type, is the string inverter which takes its 2.1.3. Transformers
input from a number of panels. Utility-scale solar PV power plants use Conventional distribution transformers are widely used and re-
large string inverters (Breeze, 2016). A string inverter of 500 kW-AC present a key element in any PV system (Testa et al., 2012). Eq. (3) is
was set up as the inverter used in the PV installations analyzed in this used to estimate the number of transformers needed for a specific PV
paper. The material inventory of this kind of inverter was developed capacity. Usually the power factor for the transformer is considered to
with data from the Ecoinvent database 3.3. Table 6 shows the material be 0.8.
PV Capacity (W )*Transformer power factor
Table 6
Number of transformers =
Transformer Capacity (W )
Average material composition of the inverter 500 kW-ac.
(3)
Metal [kg/inverter] [%]
The metal inventory for a 1.6 kVA copper transformer was taken
Al 131 6.9 from the Ecoinvent database 3.3 and is presented in Table 7. The units
Cu 339 17.7 are kg of metal per kg of transformer. A 1.6 kVA transformer weights
Steel 1438 75.2 3995 kg (Schneider, n.d.). Aluminum transformers weight 45% of
Mn 0.001 0.0001
equivalent copper-based ones (ABB, 2012). This means that a trans-
Ni 0.16 0.01
Fe 0.05 0.003 former uses 0.14 kg of aluminum instead of 0.32 kg of copper, as shown
Ag 0.37 0.02 in Table 7.
Ta 0.02 0.001
Sn 0.01 0.001 Table 7
Mg 0.01 0.0004 Average material composition of the transformer (Units: kgmetal/kgtransformer).
Pb 1.8 0.1
Au 0.51 0.03 Cu transformer Al transformer
Zn 0.4 0.02
Total 1912 100 Cu 0.32
Electricity (kWh) 36,344 Fe 0.63
NG (MJ) 0.1 Al 0.14
Fe 0.63
The most used metals in the inverters are marked in bold.

33
A. Domínguez, R. Geyer Resources, Conservation & Recycling 127 (2017) 29–41

Table 8 (GWh/year), and year of installation. CFE provides information about

Average material required for open ground mounting.
Metal [kg/m2 of PV module]
Al 3.9
Steel 7.5
Zn 0.27
2.1.4. Cabling
There is a wide variety of wires and cables used in photovoltaic
power generation. Cables connect the solar panel to the combiner box,
inverter and transformer. There are two common conductor materials
used in PV systems, aluminum and copper. Copper has a greater con-
ductivity than aluminum. In this study, it is assumed that copper is the
metal used in cabling with a ratio of 0.64 kg of Cu per m2 of PV module
(Sinha et al., 2011). For a typical PV nominal cable diameter of 5 mm,
the weight of copper is around 35 kg per kilometer of cable.
2.1.5. Mounting structures
The most common materials used in mounting structures are steel
and aluminum. Aluminum extrusions have been widely utilized by the
PV industry for PV frames and are usually used in both residential and
commercial rooftop PV mounting structures. In regards to ground
mounted PV installations, galvanized steel structures are preferred, and
vary in design depending on geographical location and soil conditions.
The fact that shipping aluminum is less expensive than shipping steel,
and that lightweight aluminum components are easy to assemble,
which reduce the installation costs, could lead to the use of aluminum
even for the largest ground mount utility scale installations (Mascarin
and Hannibal, 2009). For this study, the photovoltaic mounting system
production for open ground modules includes the material listed in
Table 8, based on Ecoinvent database 3.3. This dataset represents the
installation of the mounting system needed for open ground mounting
of 1 m2 of PV module, which uses both metals; aluminum and steel.
the capacity in MW, but not information about the number of modules
or the kind of technology used in each project (CFE, 2015). Typical
outputs for commercial PV modules vary between 175 Wp and 315 Wp.
It was assumed that 250 Wp modules were utilized when no specific
information is available in the website of each project. If the developers
of an specific project indicates the number of modules that will be in-
stalled, then it can be determined what modules will be used among the
solar projects in regards to its maximum power (e.g. 240 Wp, 245 Wp,
250 Wp, 290 Wp, 300 Wp, 315 Wp, and etcetera).
A total of 277 solar installations were located among 28 of the 32
states of Mexico, as depicted in Table 9. Each project can be identified
according to its phase of development: under construction or under
development. The total installed capacity of 7.8 GW can be partially or
totally operative between 2013 and 2018. Based on the project capa-
city, the number and capacity of modules (e.g. 245 Wp, 250 Wp,
350 Wp, etc.), inverters (500 kW) and transformers (1.6 kVA) needed
for their operation were calculated, a summary of which is depicted in
Table 9. Total amounts of PV modules indicate that for each GW in-
stalled, around 4 millions of PV waste panels will be released. Con-
sidering that the lifetime of PV modules has been estimated to be 25–30
years, on average, it can be assumed that the installed PV systems turn
into PV waste around year 2045.
Taking into account the number of total PV modules of Table 9, the
market share by technology for 2014 of Table 2, and the weight of each
kind of PV modules, it could be roughly calculated that in 2045 Mexico
will have 690,907 metric tons of end-of-life PV panels. This is on the
high end of another cumulative PV waste estimate for Mexico which
states that between 2040 and 2050 there will be 55,000 to 630,000 mt
of PV panels waste (Weckend et al., 2016).
Table 9
PV projects approved in Mexico up to December 2015.

2.1.6. Tracking systems State Capacitya Modules [units] Inverters Transformers

[MW] [units] [units]
Solar tracking systems automatically move to follow the trajectory
of the sun across the sky, maximizing the power output of photovoltaic Sonora 1698 6,710,364 3906 1327
systems. There are various different kinds of solar trackers, such a single Chihuahua 1666 6,653,655 3832 1302
or dual axis. Although advancements in technology and reliability of Guanajuato 559 2,235,728 1286 437
Coahuila 530 2,079,812 1218 414
these systems have been accomplished, the main drawbacks include the
Durango 437 1,748,800 1006 342
higher cost and the maintenance compared with their stationary San Luis Potosi 435 1,740,000 1001 340
counterparts. Furthermore, the use of solar trackers depends on the Zacatecas 346 1,385,120 796 271
location and site conditions of the PV installation. According to a recent Jalisco 345 1,380,786 794 270
Baja California Sur 341 1,366,618 784 266
study, solar tracking systems are not feasible for Sunbelt countries like
Sinaloa 280 1,125,000 644 219
Mexico, because the gain in energy does not compensate the energy Aguascalientes 198 670,182 457 155
required for running the tracking systems (Eldin et al., 2015). On top of Nuevo Leon 159 635,680 366 124
that, the PV panels could overheat due to excessive exposure to solar Tamaulipas 126 504,000 290 98
irradiance in hot climate countries. Despite this fact, there are some PV Baja California 111 443,560 255 87
Yucatan 97 388,760 224 76
installations in Mexico approved with tracking systems already. These
Chiapas 92 368,000 212 72
installations are located in the states of Aguascalientes (150 MW), Baja Queretaro 91 365,600 210 71
California (60 MW), Chihuahua (243 MW) and Coahuila (100 MW). Estado de Mexico 81 325,232 187 64
Tracking systems use 10% more aluminum, 50% more steel and zinc Colima 64 256,000 147 50
Hidalgo 50 200,000 115 39
and 30% more copper than fixed mounting structures. In this study, the
Campeche 32 128,000 74 25
increase of metal was accounted for in the final metal inventory. Guerrero 32 128,000 74 25
Puebla 32 128,000 74 25
3. Results Tabasco 32 128,000 74 25
Nayarit 10 40,000 23 8
Tlaxcala 10 40,000 23 8
3.1. PV waste projections in Mexico Veracruz 1 4360 3 1
D.F. 0 0 0 0
Beyond data provided in Section 1 in Fig. 2, a deeper analysis of the Michoacan 0 0 0 0
Morelos 0 0 0 0
PV sector in Mexico has been carried out. For this endeavour, it was
Oaxaca 0 0 0 0
necessary to look into the CFE – Comision Federal de Electricidad Total 7856 31,179,257 18,071 6138
(Federal Electricity Commission) database in order to identify data such
a
as: state, city, place, installed capacity (MW), potential electricity Data from CFE (2015).

34
A. Domínguez, R. Geyer
Fig. 3. Metal inventory of PV components.
It can be observed in Table 9 that the states of Chihuahua, Sonora
and Coahuila located in the northwest border region with the U.S., have
the greatest installed capacity, accounting for 50% of the total capacity.
Conversely, the states of Michoacan, Morelos, Oaxaca and Distrito
Federal do not have any PV projects.
Considering that 45% of the bulk of materials used in PV systems
belong to the BOS system and 55% to the PV modules, as shown in
Fig. 3, this study analyzes not only the PV modules but the balance of
system (BOS) of PV installations. It includes inverters, transformers,
mounting structures, cabling and tracking. Additional equipment such
as electricity meters, fusebox, batteries and charge controller are not
considered.
Finally, the metal inventory for Mexico was developed and is shown
in Table 10. It can be observed that Mexico will have around 1 million
metric tons of metal waste contained in end-of-life PV systems, in-
cluding BOS components (inverters, transformers, cabling, mounting
and tracking) in a 10 years period between 2040 and 2050. The metal
waste stream will be composed mainly of iron (e.g. used broadly as
steel, for mounting structures) with 42%. Aluminum and magnesium
will account for 26% and 0.4%, respectively, because the alloy AlMg3 is
used mainly for the frames of c-Si technolog which is the predominant
Table 10
Metal inventory of PV installations in Mexico.
35
Resources, Conservation & Recycling 127 (2017) 29–41
PV technology. Semiconductor materials such as silicon (26%) and zinc
(1%) are used for the solar cells. Copper is mainly used for wiring,
accounting 5%. It is important to mention that these calculations cor-
respond to the 7.8 GW of cumulative installed capacity up to December
2015, and that any additional GW installed will increase these results.
3.2. PV waste recycling in Mexico
Recycling of PV waste is crucial, not only to avoid environmental
pollution but to conserve mineral resources. Mexico has no specific
regulation in place regarding PV waste recycling. However, there are
different legal instruments that could contribute to the PV waste
management such as the Political Constitution of the United States of
Mexico, the General Law for Ecological Balance and Environmental
Protection (LGEEPA) and the General Law for Prevention and
Comprehensive Management of Waste (LGPGIR). In this framework, the
country commits to conduct an adequate management and disposal of
the waste classified as “special handling”, where e-waste is including
but is limited to specifics items and does not include solar panels.
To estimate the amount of secondary materials that can be recycled
from PV installations, extended research about the actual and future
recycling yields of each metal identified in the metal inventory of
Table 10 was performed. The recycling yields for twenty one metals
used in PV systems are displayed in Table A13. These recycling yields
were taken from twenty-three specialized sources in PV recycling. Some
of these recycling processes are under experimental, pilot scale, pa-
tented or commercial status, and were described in Table A12. These
recycling facilities are located mainly in the U.S., the European Union
(Germany, Italy, Sweden, Poland and Slovakia), Asia (Korea, China and
Japan) and Brazil. Since it is unknown if Mexico will achieve these
recycling yields; because the PV recycling industry has yet to be es-
tablished; this paper shows the best recycling scenario assuming the use
of the best available recycling technology.
Existing estimates show that for the twenty-one metals analyzed in
this study, the recycling yield is around 90% for eleven metals, and for
the other nine metals it is between 18% and 52%. The recycling yield
reported for solar cells varies from 60% to 97% (Fthenakis, 2000; Kyu
Yi et al., 2014; Tao and Yu, 2015). The total recycling yield for silicon
modules is around 90% (Nieland et al., 2012; Anctil and Fthenakis,
2013). The same yield is reported for the BOS (Ravikumar et al., 2015).
A. Domínguez, R. Geyer Resources, Conservation & Recycling 127 (2017) 29–41

Table 11
Recycling yields and estimated amount of metal in PV waste in Mexico.

Table A13 shows the recycling yields selected for this study, however,
these yields can be modified in the model to adapt the recycling sce-
nario for the Mexican case study once more information becomes
available.
Table 11 shows the assumed recycling yields as well as the amount
of metals that could be potentially recycled. Around 94% of the metals
in the PV systems could be recovered. This is around 920 thousand mt
of secondary metal. The recycling processes of aluminum, copper and
iron are well known and achieve very high yields. These metals can be
easily recovered from solar PV end-of-life components because the bulk
of these materials are used as mounting structures, frames and cables.
Nevertheless, there are metals that are contained in small amounts
within the solar cells, transformers and inverters, which require more
complex recycling processes, such as those presented in Table A12.
Certainly, there are challenges in metal recycling (e.g. recycling
technologies, product design, social behavior, etc.) that need to be
addressed and factors (volumes involved, economic value of metals) Fig. 4. Market share of different PV technologies.
Data from Weckend et al. (2016).
that need to be considered. These factors should be contextualized for
the Mexican case study once the PV recycling sector has been estab-
lished and accurate information becomes available.
be c-Si, 6.9% CdTe and 7.3% CIGS. The sensitivity analysis depicted in
Fig. 5 shows the percentage by which each metal will vary depending
3.3. Sensitivity analysis on the change of PV module technology. For instance, an increment of
5% on the market share of CIGS will greatly increase the demand of
The model was developed for a specific market share of PV modules gallium (265%), indium (170%) and selenium (265%). A growth of 2%
by technology type, recycling yields and metal composition of BOS (e.g. on the market share of CdTe will intensify the use of cadmium (100%)
transformer) and PV modules, hence a sensitivity analysis for these and tellurium (36%). Since the market share of c-Si technologies will
factors was conducted. decline by 7%, the use of silicon (−6%) will diminish as well as the
aluminum (−9%) and magnesium (−9%) used for the frames of this
3.3.1. Effect of market share in PV modules technology kind of modules. Iron and manganese will not be used any more be-
According to Fig. 4, the solar PV technology trend shows a reduction cause a-Si is the only PV technology that uses these metals.
in silicon-based technologies, which includes mono-crystalline, poly or
multi-crystalline, ribbon and amorphous silicon. The use of CdTe thin 3.3.2. Effect of recycling yields for target materials
film will decrease slightly, while CIGS will increase. It is important to Recycling of metals contained in PV systems may be vital to enable
analyze how the material of PV waste will change, if these trends further global PV deployment growth. Base metals like aluminum,
continue. copper and iron have reached high recycling yields. Likewise, toxic/
As the metal composition of other technologies (e.g. organic PV, hazardous metals experience high recycling yields due to the specific
dye-sensitised cells, etc.) is currently not well known, it was assumed restrictions related to their disposal. However, recent studies reveal that
that by 2030, 44.1% of other technologies will be shared between three historical production of critical metals (e.g. Te, In, Ga) will be in-
technologies (c-Si, CdTe and CIGS) proportionally to their market share sufficient to satisfy the supply of some metals required to meet the rapid
in 2014, while a-Si technology will be discontinued. Hence, 85.8% will PV deployment (Anctil and Fthenakis, 2013; Kavlak et al., 2015). These

36
A. Domínguez, R. Geyer
materials face constraints in their supply because they are by-products
of base metals. This paper investigates the metal recycling potential of
some critical and precious metals (see Fig. 6).
The recycling yields shown in Table 11, are susceptible to change
depending on the recycling technology utilized. Although some metals
such as silver, cadmium, gallium, indium, selenium and tellurium,
mainly used in thin film technologies, show very high levels of recovery
(89–95%), the fact is that these technologies are relatively new. The
optimistic high recycling yields shown in Table 11 could be lower, and
the amount of material recovered will be different, as shown in Fig. 6.
The low recycling yields considered are: silver – 30%, cadmium – 27%,
gallium – 30%, indium – 20%, selenium – 38%, and tellurium – 35%
(Paiano, 2014; Goe and Gaustad, 2014; Buchert et al., 2009).
On the other hand, valuable metals such as gold, or others like
molybdenum, chromium, tantalum and zinc, with very low recycling
yields (18–36%) may experience an improvement in their recovery
(Goe and Gaustad, 2014; Sibley, 2011). For instance, if gold could be
recovered with a recycling yield of 50% instead of the actual 36%, an
additional 40% of gold would be recovered.
3.3.3. Effect of metal composition of transformers (Al vs. Cu)
Copper and aluminum are the two conductors used in transformer
windings. Depending on factors such as application, cost and avail-
ability, one or other can be selected. For instance, copper is frequently
used in large power transformers (Olivares et al., 2010). The material
inventory presented in Table 10, considers that transformers are made
only of copper. However, the use of aluminum transformer is expected
to increase because global experience suggests that the distribution
transformers wound with aluminum are as good as copper, with the
advantage of cost reduction (Paul et al., 2012). When aluminum is se-
lected as winding material, the amount of copper used in the overall PV
system will decrease in 7844 metric tons (13.7%), whilst aluminum will
increase in 3530 metric tons (1.4%). Considering the price of copper
(6.1 $/kg) and aluminum (1.9 $/kg), the economic advantage of using
37
Resources, Conservation & Recycling 127 (2017) 29–41
Fig. 5. Change in material inventory according to PV forecast technology
change.
Fig. 6. Change in material recovery according to different recycling yields.
aluminum instead of copper is clear (USGS, 2016). The difference in
price is around 41 million dollars.
3.3.4. Effect of thin film panel developments
The thin film technologies such as cadmium telluride (CdTe) and
copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) are still under development.
The advantage of these PV technologies is the great reduction of semi-
conductor material usage compared with c-Si, leading to lower pro-
duction cost. Due to the increasing scarcity of mineral resources further
reduction in the use of some metals. For instance, CIGS panels will ex-
perience a tiny reduction in copper (0.002%), indium (0.006%), gallium
(0.002%) and selenium (0.01%), but an increase of 1% in aluminum.
Hence, the most significant change on metal inventory is an increase of
3260 tons of aluminum. For the case of CdTe panels, the semiconductor
material usage will decline almost by half (0.7%), while nickel, zinc and
tin will increase to 0.41% (Weckend et al., 2016). The semiconductor
material will decrease in 3.6 tons for Cd and 1.6 tons for Te.
4. Discussion
As PV installations increase, PV waste will rise as well. It is im-
portant to analyze the development of PV in countries such as Mexico,
that have little current PV deployment but a large impending increase
in PV capacity. This analysis allows the government and stakeholders to
become aware of the reality of the PV sector in Mexico, which generally
is underestimated in reports made by worldwide experts. A deeper
analysis of national databases was performed and accurate data were
obtained. The quality, magnitude and efficiency required to have
proper end-of-life management of PV systems relies upon this factual
data. The present study excludes residential rooftop installations. These
will increase the amount of future PV waste, but probably not sig-
nificantly.
Some studies have presented material composition of different
technologies which include up to five metals (Weckend et al., 2016;
A. Domínguez, R. Geyer Resources, Conservation & Recycling 127 (2017) 29–41

BIO, 2011; Corcelli et al., 2016; Katsigiannis et al., 2015; Choi and
Fthenakis, 2014; Latunussa et al., 2016; Radziemska et al., 2010).
However, this study provides a more detailed model of the average
material composition of PV modules per technology analyzing twenty-
one metals contained in the PV systems. Some of these metals (e.g. Ga,
In) are used in such a small quantity that they are often neglected, but
nevertheless, their importance make it imperative to analyze.
Trends concerning the market share of PV module technologies
show a reduction of silicon-based technologies and an increase of thin-
film based technologies (CdTe and CIGS). Accordingly, the material
content of PV waste will change. The result is a significant growth in
gallium (265%), indium (170%) and selenium (265%) demand for
CIGS, as well as cadmium (100%) and tellurium (36%) demand for
CdTe. All these metals are considered critical due to the supply chain
disruptions and price fluctuations they have faced.
The mining industry in Mexico is vital for the development of the
country because it accounts for one quarter of government revenue.
Mexico is the world leader in silver production and is among the world's
top 10 producers of cadmium, copper, gold, lead, molybdenum and
zinc, however, Mexico imports metals that could be recycled from PV
waste, like aluminum and tellurium. In this regard, despite the mate-
rials used in PV, recycling is imperative to assure sustainable PV de-
ployment.
It is worth mentioning that different types of metals contained in PV
modules face specific recycling challenges, which in turn influence their
recycling yields. Actual recycling yields are strongly related to the
economic value of the recovered metal. For instance, currently, a cri-
tical metal like Indium (largely used in LCD production) is not re-
covered from e-waste since it is not as valuable as the recovered pre-
cious metals (e.g. indium – 340 $/kg, gold – 40,831 $/kg, in 2016 U.S.
dollar terms (USGS, 2016)). Also, indium is produced mainly from the
residues generated during the zinc ore processing which is cheap
(2.2 $/kg). Thus, while indium has high value, it is still sent to landfill
or incineration (Götze and Rotter, 2012). This situation could be ex-
perienced by indium and other critical metals in PV recycling if the lack
of regulations for the recovery of specific metals continue, leading to
lower recycling rates than technically feasible. However, this work at-
tempts to present a recycling scenario where recycling yields are driven
by environmental concerns rather than economic.
5. Conclusions
region with the U.S., have the greatest installed capacity, together ac-
counting for 50% of the total capacity, while the states of Michoacan,
Morelos, Oaxaca and Distrito Federal, do not report any project.
This study reveals that for each GW of installed PV capacity, around
4 millions of PV modules waste will be generated. By 2045, Mexico will
have 1.2 million mt of PV waste, 691 thousand mt of which are PV
modules (31 millions PV modules). If the BOS components (inverters,
transformers, cabling, mounting and tracking) are included, nearly to 1
million mt of different metals will be contained in the PV-waste stream
(42% Fe, 26% Al, 26% Si, 5% Cu). Fortunately, assuming the best
available recycling technology, around 920 thousand mt of PV waste
could be recovered. Precious and valuable metals (271 mt of silver,
10 mt of gold, 17 mt of gallium, 10 mt of indium, 139 mt of cadmium
and 100 mt of tellurium) can be recovered. Recycling of metals con-
tained in PV systems may be vital to enable further global PV deploy-
ment growth. Metal recycling faces challenges in recycling technolo-
gies, product design and social behavior that need to be addressed.
This survey aims to inform Mexican PV stakeholders to draw up a
plan for recycling the future amounts of PV waste, because recycling
has great benefits such as: reduction of energy use and environmental
impacts associated with mining and processing of valuable and limited
virgin natural resources avoiding mineral depletion, development of a
new PV waste industry, lessen the exports of PV waste to developing
countries, reduction of environmental and human health impacts from
improper recycling and contribution to a sustainable renewable-base
energy future. Furthermore, the development of the new PV waste re-
cycling industry will create job opportunities in Mexico.
Knowing nothing about the value of the extractable materials or
benefit in any way from the recycling of PV waste, results in little to no
incentive to recycle. With this lack of incentive, how and where PV
panels and BOS are recycled depends greatly on regulatory policies and
mechanisms (or lack thereof) of each country to deal with PV waste.
Currently, Mexico does not have a specific regulation in regards to PV
waste recycling. However, it is very important to know the amount and
kind of metals contained in the PV waste in order to propose a recycling
plan that ensures that enough and the right type of recycling technology
and capacity is available, guaranteeing that hazardous metals will be
properly disposed and that valuable metals will be recovered.
This paper is the first analysis of this kind for Mexico. In future
research not only technical but also environmental, social and eco-
nomic dimensions should be studied.

This paper estimates and quantifies the generation of PV waste in Acknowledgements

Mexico across different PV technologies. The analysis involves a total of
277 solar installations located among 28 of the 32 states of Mexico,
altogether accounting for 7.8 GW of installed capacity that should be
partially or totally operative between 2013 and 2018. The states of
Chihuahua, Sonora and Coahuila located in the northwest border
We would like to thank Parikhit Sinha from First Solar for his as-
sistance in obtaining reliable industry data. The research leading to
these results has received funding from the CONACYT (Consejo
Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia - Mexico) grant no. 263709.

Appendix A. Recycling technologies for PV modules

Recycling technologies for PV panels have already been researched for the past 15 years (Weckend et al., 2016). Photovoltaic companies such as
First Solar® and SolarWorld ®, have constructed the first commercial recycling plants for thin-film modules and c-Si modules, respectively. Both
companies are members of PV CYCLE. This association was founded in 2007 with the objective to make the photovoltaic industry “double green” by
implementing the voluntary take back and recycling for end-of-life PV modules. Together with project partners such as PV manufacturing companies,
research institutes, mining companies and government agencies, PV CYCLE supports R & D activities to undertake in-depth research in recycling PV
modules. For instance, in Europe there are some research initiatives to investigate different PV recycling technologies. FRELP – Full Recovery End-of-
life Photovoltaic, which test and develops innovative methods that can enable high-value recovery of materials and energy in an economical viable
way (FRELP, n.d.). PV Morede – Photovoltaic panels Mobile Recycling Device focused on the development and industrialization of a patented mobile
plant for the recycling of PV modules aimed at the recovery of raw materials and energy operating with an innovative mechanical process (Morede,
n.d.). CU-PV – Cradle-to-cradle sustainable PV modules, which looks for reduction of silver in silicon PV technology through new metallization
methods (CU, n.d.). Furthermore, several recycling technologies have been developed around the world in an experimental way, some of them have
been patented and some other are under pilot scale, the technical details can be consulted in Table A12.

38
 A. Domínguez, R. Geyer

Table A12
Photovoltaic module recycling technologies.

Status Recycling process technology PV Material recovered Reference

Experimental Pyrolysis in a conveyor belt furnace and the pyrolysis in a fluidised bed reactor c-Si Silicon cell: 80% (very low efficiencies) Frisson et al. (2000)
Glass: 100%
Dissolution of EVA with trichloroethylene at 80 °C for 10 days, and mechanical pressure to suppress the swelling of EVA c-Si Silicon cell: 100% Doi et al. (2001)
Thermal treatment with a layer of SiO_2 c-Si Silicon cell Radziemska et al. (2010)
A dilute aqueous solution of hydrogen peroxide and sulfuric acid was applied to leach out cadmium and tellurium. Then, CdTe Cd: 99.99% Te: 99.99% Cu was partially Fthenakis et al. (2009)
cation-exchange resins were used to separate cadmium and copper form tellurium. extracted
Two steps heating were used in a thermal treatment process. c-Si Si: 62% Cu:85% Glass: 100% Wang et al. (2012)
Immersion in organic solvent to recover the tempered glass followed by heat treatment at 600 °C for 1 h to remove the EVA, c-Si Si: 86 % Glass: 100% Kang et al. (2012)
then the PV cell is immersed in a chemical etching solution for 20 min
Two blade rotors crushing followed by hammer crushing, thermal treatment (650 °C) and sieving c-Si, a-Si, CdTe Glass: 80–85% Granata et al. (2014)
Oxidation at 800 °C for 1 h and reduction by two options: 1) Riley reaction with an organic molecule and 2) sulphur dioxide CIGS Se: 90–99% Gustafsson et al. (2014)
Milling the modules, sieving, leaching in nitric acid and precipitating the leached solution using sodium chloride. c-Si Ag: 94% Dias et al. (2016)

39
Pilot scale Thermal dismantling at 500 °C followed by crushing/milling to reduce particle size, vacuum blasting and flotation. The last CdTe,CIS Cd: 98% Te: 98% In is also recovered Berger et al. (2010)
product is sent to 5N Plus.

Patented Shredding and leaching with a nitric acid based lixiviant. Then, the lixiviant is electrolysed to precipitate the Te and CdTe Te: 95–98% Cd: 4% Goozner et al. (1997)
decomposed to obtain the Cd. A subsequent decomposition and oxidation and distillation is required to obtain Cu, Se, In and CIS Cd: 16–20% Cu: 94–99% Se: 88–90% Goozner et al. (1997)
Zn from CIS.
ANTEC Solar GmbH: Mechanical disintegration, pyrolysis treatment at 300 °C, Dry etching at 400 °C and precipitation. CdTe, CdS NA Diequez et al. (2003)
Treatment with dilute hydrochloric acid under precipitation of hydrogen peroxide CdTe Te: 92% Mo: 6% Palitzsch and Loser (2011)
Crushing, acid leaching, skimming and filtration, precipitation and two phases of stripping and electrodeposition CIGS Glass, EVA, Se, In and Ga Rocchetti and Beolchini
(2015)
Crushing, acid leaching, separation, precipitation, decantation, filtration and electrowinning CdTe Glass, EVA and Te Rocchetti and Beolchini
(2015)

Commercial Solar World: plastic components are removed by a thermal process at 600 °C before the silicon wafer is recovered through c-Si Silicon cell: 98% Glass: 90% Larsen (2009)
etching (Deustche Solar)
First Solar: shredder, hammer mill, leaching, solid–liquid separation, vibrating screen to separate glass and EVA. The rising CdTe Te: 80% Semiconductor material:95% Glass: Krueger (2010)
of glass allows the metal recovery by precipitation and the metal rich filter cake is recycled by a third party 90%
Resources, Conservation & Recycling 127 (2017) 29–41
A. Domínguez, R. Geyer Resources, Conservation & Recycling 127 (2017) 29–41

Table A13
Metal Recycling Yields [%].

Source Ag Al Au Cd Cr Cu Fe Ga In Mg Mn Mo Ni Pb Se Si Sn Ta Te Ti Zn Cell

Latunussa et al. (2016) 95 100 100 95

Paiano (2014) 30–50 78–100 76–86 80–95
Tao and Yu (2015) 20–100 94–99 88–90 74 80–100 97
Huang and Tao (2015) 90
Redlinger et al. (2015) 80–99 80–99 80–99
Katsigiannis et al. (2015) 78 85
Goe and Gaustad (2014) 22 14 36 27 41 33 18 96 38 32
Kyu Yi et al. (2014) 100 100 100 97
Choi and Fthenakis (2014) 85–96 85–96
Bergensen et al. (2014)a 85–96 85–96
Marwede et al. (2013) 95
Sinha (2013) 90 90
Tobergte and Curtis (2013) 100
Marwede and Reller (2012) 80–95 80–97
Kang et al. (2012) 86
Wang et al. (2012) 85 62
Anctil and Fthenakis (2013) 95 95
Sibley (2011) 32 36 29 14 20 30 33 37 33 41 63 21 52 27
Held and Ilg (2011) 95 95
Wambach et al. (2009) 100 78 85
Buchert et al. (2009) 40 15 10–20 35–90
Hahne and Hirn (2009) 78–100 73–85
Larsen (2009) 80
This study 95 100 36 95 20 100 90 90 90 33 37 18 41 96 89 100 32 21 95 52 27

a
BOS.

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