Abstract
In this work, we examine the efficacy of Electrodynamic Eddy Current Separation (EECS) to recover valuable materials from end-of-life solar panels. Traditional rotary-based eddy current separators are capable of excitation frequencies of ≈1 kHz or less and struggle to economically separate particles smaller than ≈1 cm. A new design of eddy current separators has been developed at the University of Utah which has no mechanically moving parts. The design is capable of excitation frequencies up to 50 kHz, allowing sorting of particles as small as 1.0 mm. Recently, we have been successful in separating mixtures of Si/Al and CdTe/Al particles (1–3 mm) with recovery and grades greater than 85%, an energy demand of 68 kWh/short ton of sorted material, and throughput of roughly 10 kg/h. Current and future challenges utilizing this method for valuable material recovery from end-of-life solar panels are discussed.
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Acknowledgements
YRS would like to acknowledge support provided though the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy, Sunshot Initiative Postdoctoral Research Award. RKR and JRN acknowledge support through the United States, Advanced Research Project Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) METALS Program under cooperative agreement grant DE-AR0000411. The authors would also like to acknowledge technical contributions by Dave Cohrs and Jacob Salgado.
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Smith, Y.R., Nagel, J.R., Rajamani, R.K. (2017). Electrodynamic Eddy Current Separation of End-of-Life PV Materials. In: Zhang, L., et al. Energy Technology 2017. The Minerals, Metals & Materials Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52192-3_37
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52192-3_37
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