Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: The aim of this study was the hydrothermal leaching of silver from waste monocrystalline silicon (m-Si) and polycrystalline silicon (p-Si) photovoltaic panel (PV) cells using organic acids, namely oxalic acid (OA) and citric acid (CA). Before leaching, two different pretreatment procedures were applied. First, the fluoropolymer backsheet was manually removed from the panel pieces and, then, the samples were subjected to high-temperature heating for the thermal degradation of the ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) polymer. When removal by hand was not feasible, the second pretreatment procedure was followed by toluene immersion to remove the EVA and backsheet and separate the cells, glass, and films. After pretreatment, 4 M HCl leaching was applied to remove the aluminum layer from the cells. The remaining cells were subjected to hydrothermal leaching with organic acids to extract the silver. Several hydrothermal parameters were investigated, such as acid concentration (1-1.5-2 M), processing time (60-105-150 min), and temperature (150-180-210 °C), while the liquid-to-solid (L/S) ratio was fixed at 30 mL: 1 g, based on preliminary tests. Response surface methodology (RSM) was applied to optimize the hydrothermal leaching parameters. The optimized parameters were 210 °C, 95 min, 2 M CA or 210 °C, 60 min, 1 M OA. OA was more effective in Ag leaching than CA. The results were compared to HNO3 leaching. The green leaching of silver from end-of-life PV panels with organic acids is an environmentally beneficial route.
Source: Applied Sciences
DOI: 10.3390/app15126383
Institution: Technical University of Crete
Language: English
Subfield: Waste Management and Disposal
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,896
OpenAlex ID: W4411077666