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PV Panel recycling technologies
Solar power is booming, with millions of metric tons of solar panels being produced each year. A panel has a projected lifespan of about 25 years, which means that today’s new solar farms will go out of service in the late 2040s. Most of the weight in a solar panel, about 75 percent, is glass, aluminum, with 10 percent; wiring in a junction box, at 5 percent; and silicon, with just 3.5 percent. Dedicated recyclers are needed, the authors write, to do a more thorough job of recycling all the components of a panel—including the crystalline silicon in the photovoltaic cells themselves. Silicon wafers account for about half the cost of a panel, as well as over half the energy and carbon footprint of manufacturing a panel. But silicon isn't currently being targeted for recycling much because the recovered silicon isn't pure enough to go straight back to a wafer manufacturer. Studies show that the impurity levels are an important issue during the recycling processes. The resulting
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Some dramatically different approaches to EV batteries could see progress in 2023, though they will likely take longer to make a commercial impact. One advance to keep an eye on this year is in so-called solid-state batteries. Lithium-ion batteries and related chemistries use a liquid electrolyte that shuttles charge around; solid-state batteries replace this liquid with ceramics or other solid materials. At the same time, concerns about supplies of key battery materials like cobalt and lithium are pushing a search for alternatives to the standard lithium-ion chemistry. In the midst of the soaring demand for EVs and renewable power and an explosion in battery development, one thing is certain: batteries will play a key role in the transition to renewable energy. Here’s what to expect in 2023. The global battery value chain, like others within industrial manufacturing, faces significant environmental, social, and governance (ESG) challenges Environmental: The extraction and refini