END-OF-LIFE LCA OF SOLAR PV MODULES: RECYCLING PROCESS, INDIA VS CHINA COMPARISON, AND DESIGN IMPLICATIONS

Abstract

The fast development of the solar photovoltaic (PV) installations has raised prompting questions on how to handle the end-of-life (EoL) PV waste. This paper provides an assessment of the environmental effects of the recycling of crystalline silicon (c-Si) PV modules on a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) framework, and a comparative analysis between India and China. The collection, transportation, pre-treatment, and recycling are considered as the system boundaries, where the functionality of any unit was determined as 1 tonne of EoL PV modules. The findings reveal that the Indian situation has more environmental impacts because of the low infrastructure, unproductive processing technologies, and low material recovery rates. However, the situation is different in China, where the performance is better due to high-level recycling technologies, better recovery rates, and favourable policy frameworks. The paper also identifies the importance of using chemical processes to extract valuable materials like silicon, silver and the difficulties that pertain to the removal of polymer. Moreover, it is defined that the module design can be regarded as one of the factors of recyclability and that the glass-glass module exhibits better environmental performance than the glass-back sheet layout. The results highlight the significance of technology promotion, policy facilitation, and design-to-recycle principles to facilitate the sustainability of the PV recycling systems.