Ricerca
Riciclo di pannelli fotovoltaici a fine vita per applicazioni batterie a ioni litio
Recycling of silicon recovered from end-of-life PV panels by 9-Tech treatment plant, for application in lithium-ion batteries
- Chimica e Scienza dei Materiali
- Nanotecnologie
- Ambiente e Sostenibilità
- Innovazione tecnologica
- Ricerca
- Lecce
- Per tutti
- ENEA
- Stand di ricerca
- Ricerca applicata e prototipi
L’attività proposta vuole descrivere il progetto di ricerca “PARSIVAL” che ha lo scopo di mobilitare il triangolo della conoscenza -istruzione, ricerca e innovazione- e creare una rete dal respiro europeo attorno alla problematica del recupero e del riuso di materiali ottenuti da pannelli fotovoltaici a fine vita. Regioni come la Puglia, in Italia, e l’Estremadura, in Spagna, sentono come emergente la sfida dello smaltimento dei pannelli a fine vita, essendo tra le regioni a maggiore potenza fotovoltaica installata; si calcola che nei prossimi 15 anni verrà generato un enorme quantitativo di pannelli a fine vita (circa 300k tons in Puglia e 380K tons in Estremadura). Il progetto vuole avviare la realizzazione, in queste regioni, di processi per il refurbishment e il riciclo di pannelli fotovoltaici a fine vita. In tal modo, i pannelli riparabili potranno essere qualificati ad una seconda vita e i materiali recuperati dai pannelli non più riutilizzabili destinati a nuove applicazioni. In particolare il silicio, considerato materiale strategico secondo uno studio riportato nel report “Study on the Critical raw Materials for the EU 2023”, verrà recuperato attraverso un processo termo-meccanico e utilizzato per la produzione di: ferroleghe, anodi di batterie a ioni litio e nuove celle fotovoltaiche. Il progetto prevede anche una parte educativa, finalizzata a promuovere e consolidare nelle giovani generazioni, competenze nel recupero e valorizzazione dei materiali critici.
The growing demand for recycling of end-of-life photovoltaic panels (EoL PVs) calls for significant efforts to be dedicated in the development of efficient technologies both for recovering all the valuable materials contained in PV panels (backsheet, aluminum, glass, copper, silver, silicon PV cells) and for finding final market for these materials. In addition, the recent inclusion of silicon- as well as of copper – into the EU list of critical materials makes the recovery and recycling of these elements strongly encouraged. PARSIVAL, a project founded by EIT Raw Materials, addresses this challenge by advancing the establishment of a circular PV value chain in Apulia and Extremadura regions. These are RIS areas characterized by intensive installation of PV panels, where a large amount of photovoltaic waste will be generated in the next 15 years (around 300k tons in Apulia, 380k tons in Extremandura). It has been predicted that the worldwide solar PV waste could unlock between 1.7 and 8 million tonnes of raw materials (as plastics and Si, Ag, Cu, Al) and other valuable components by 2030, rising further to about 78 million tons by 2050. PV cells mainly contain silicon that is regarded as promising anode material for the next generation of lithium-ion batteries (LiBs) because of its high theoretical specific capacity. However, when silicon is used during lithium storage, a huge volume expansion (~300%) appears, involving progressive fragmentation and loss of active material, resulting in a rapid decrease of the accumulated capacity. Various solutions have been proposed to deal with the volumetric variation during battery charge-discharge cycles, including nanosized silicon that exhibits excellent properties due to its large specific surface area, rapid transport of electrons and Li+, and great volume buffering capacity. Since October 2022, 9-Tech is performing at pilot scale a thermo-mechanical recycling process to recover from EoL-PVs: glass, aluminium frame, copper ribbons, junction box and PV cells. In the frame of PARSIVAL project, 9-Tech provided to ENEA laboratories small samples of recovered silicon cell fragments, untreated or treated with NaOH and HNO3 in order to eliminate aluminium rear-contact and/or silver conductive fingers, respectively. The material is under studying by ENEA in order to be used as active material to completely or partially replace graphite for the realization of anodes in LiBs.