Recycling end-of-life solar panels demands high energy, time, and manual effort, especially for retrieving ultra-pure silicon. To ensure a ‘no or very low carbon footprint’, a new international initiative led by Swinburne University of Technology aims to automate the process using robots and green energy.
Apart from being energy-intensive and time-consuming, the currently prevalent solar module recycling processes are also labor-intensive, requiring manual labor to dismantle the panels and remove wires. Moreover, there is the added challenge of making recovered silicon 99.99999% pure again, so that they can be used for solar cells.
With their research program, dubbed Zero-Carbon and Circular Solar PV Recycling (Si-Zero), the consortium members seek to develop an automated process of getting the bulk of this work done by robots. The entire process is planned to be powered by green energy and electricity to make it low-carbon.
The Australian university has brought together a consortium of partners for this AUD 3 million project, namely India’s Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad (IIT Hyderabad), Indonesia’s Gadjah Mada University and the country’s national research agency BRIN, and the US-based Sadoway Labs Foundation.
“This research program is the first of its kind in the world,” said Swinburne researcher, Dr. Bintang Nuraeni. “It brings together international expertise to develop zero-carbon processes for recovering high-purity silicon and other valuable materials from end-of-life solar panels, strengthening the foundation for a sustainable and circular solar industry.”
For this project, Swinburne will use its electric refining process that allows for the selective removal of impurities in silicon. IIT Hyderabad brings its technical expertise in high-temperature processing. The Indian institute will also develop new methods, such as electro slag refining, in collaboration with its local industry partner Greenko.
Sadoway Labs will use its extreme electrochemistry at temperatures above 540°C for industrial decarbonization of the process.
Indonesian partners in the consortium see this initiative as enabling them to gain technical knowledge in solar panel production and recycling as the country expands its PV manufacturing capacity.
“Through collaboration, Indonesian institutions gain access to frontier knowledge, advanced instrumentation and experimental methodologies,” explained Gadjah Mada University’s Professor Himawan Tri Bayu Murti Petrus.
This initiative can make solar more accessible at lower prices in countries like India and Indonesia, according to the project partners.
“Recycling end-of-life panels can reduce import dependency, cut production costs and lower environmental impact,” added IIT Hyderabad’s Ashok Kamaraj. “Establishing silicon recovery infrastructure will support a circular economy, strengthen domestic manufacturing, and align with India’s Make in India, clean energy and sustainability goals.”
The program will initially focus on fundamental research, optimizing it in theory before scaling up demonstrator technology, stated the partners. The team will comprise 10 PhD students and 5 research fellows from the 4 nations.
According to global estimates, 78 million tons of dead panels are expected to enter the global waste stream by 2050. Australia alone expects 1 million tons of out-of-work panels in its landfills by 2050, with most of it coming from the residential segment in metropolitan cities. Volumes will begin to grow after 2030 as large-scale facilities are decommissioned. The country sees recycling and reuse as unlocking 24 GW of energy potential by 2040, according to the Smart Energy Council (see Australia’s Solar Panel Waste Could Unlock 24 GW By 2040).
