Industry Background of Double Glass Solar Panel Recycling

With the rapid development of the global photovoltaic industry, the installation of double glass solar photovoltaic panels continues to increase. The general lifespan of these components is about 25 years, and products that were put into early use are gradually entering the scrap period, putting increasing pressure on the disposal of photovoltaic waste.

If discarded casually, the glass, metal, and silicon materials in the photovoltaic panel will not be effectively utilized, resulting in resource waste, and the packaging materials may also cause environmental pollution. Through standardized recycling, these materials can be recycled, which not only conforms to the global trend of carbon reduction and circular economy, but also brings new economic growth points to the resource recycling industry.

High-Value Recoverable Materials in Double Glass Panels

Double glass photovoltaic panels are a significant resource reservoir, not end-of-life waste. Their components can be efficiently separated and refined using specialized recycling technologies. The high-value recoverable materials include:

Aluminum Frame: Can be recovered with high purity. Separated intact via automated dismantling machines, the aluminum can be directly reintroduced into smelters for manufacturing new frames or other aluminum products, saving up to 95% of the energy required for primary aluminum production.

Glass: The two glass sheets constitute the largest mass fraction. Processed into cullet (granules) or powder with high purity, it serves as valuable feedstock for the flat glass industry , reducing the need for virgin raw materials.

Metals: Includes copper and traces of silver . These metals, recovered as concentrated powders, are essential raw materials for the electronics, electrical, and jewelry industries, with silver being particularly critical and valuable.

Silicon: The semiconductor material from the solar cells. Recovered as silicon powder, it can be refined and used in secondary applications such as metallurgical-grade silicon, additives for alloys, or potentially upgraded for use in new solar cells through advanced purification techniques.

Plastics & Polymers: Mainly the encapsulant (EVA, POE) and backsheet fragments. While more challenging, advanced pyrolysis can convert these into chemical feedstocks or recover energy, moving towards zero waste in the recycling process.

Standardized Recycling Process for Double Glass Panels

Frame dismantling machine: Retired double glass photovoltaic panels are fed into the frame dismantling machine to separate aluminum frames, which can be directly recycled and reprocessed.

Slag removal pretreatment (slag removal machine): Remove impurities and residual adhesive layer on the surface of the photovoltaic panel to prepare for pyrolysis.
Pyrolysis Separation (Pyrolysis Tunnel Furnace): High temperature pyrolysis decomposes internal packaging materials, preliminarily separating glass, silicon wafers, metals, etc.
Manual+equipment sorting
Manually pick out large copper wires after pyrolysis.
The remaining materials enter the linear sieve A: large glass blocks in the upper layer (>50-60mm); Separate copper wires in the middle layer; The lower layer (2.5-30mm) contains “fine particles” such as glass slag.
Fine air sorting (air sorting machine): “Fine particles” enter the air sorting machine and separate silicon wafers and silicon powder according to density differences. Some materials are sent for subsequent screening.
Multi stage screening (linear screening B/C)
Sift out silicon powder using linear sieve B (1.5mm).
Linear sieve C (1.2mm) separates high-purity crushed glass and silicon powder glass powder mixture.

Through this process, the core resources of double glass photovoltaic panels can be efficiently separated and recycled, which not only alleviates environmental pressure but also creates circular economy value for enterprises.

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