Researchers at the University of Newcastle have achieved almost 100% silver recovery from end-of-life solar panels using a proven mineral-processing technology they believe could make solar panel recycling more economically viable.
University of Newcastle researchers have successfully scaled up a process that recovers silver from end-of-life solar panels, demonstrating almost 100% recovery during what they claim is the world’s first continuous pilot-scale flotation trial for solar panel recycling.
Building on previous efforts showing that froth flotation – a mineral-processing technique widely used in the mining industry – could recover silver from solar waste without using acid, the research team recovered high-grade silver from almost half a tonne of end-of-life solar panels.
“Our earlier small-scale batch research proved flotation could recover silver from solar panels,” lead researcher Associate Professor Mahshid Firouzi, Deputy Director of the University of Newcastle’s Centre for Critical Minerals and Urban Mining, said.
“This latest work demonstrates that the process can operate continuously at a much larger scale with nearly 100% silver recovery, bringing us closer to commercial implementation.”
