TY - GEN A1 - Hedrich, Martina A1 - Giese, Lutz A1 - Adam, Christian A1 - Haase, Oskar A1 - Segebade, Christian T1 - Recycling of Photovoltaic CdTe-Modules - Analytical Process Monitoring T2 - Proceedings / EMC 2005, European Metaalurgical Conference N2 - Along with the globally increasing energy demand the application of renewable energy sources is urgently required. According to national regulations and international treaties (e.g. Kyoto Protocol) these sources shall be sustainably available at reasonable financial effort and non-polluting during production, use and waste treatment. Using photovoltaic sources (PV), these requirements can clearly be met. All industry has to follow the best available technology and an integrative life cycle approach for their products and production. PV thin film technology strictly responds to this obligation. In order to save material resources and to minimise undesirable landfill recycling of spent PV modules is necessary. Recycling of multi-component materials containing mixed metals typically consists of three parts: liberation, separation, and recovery. In our study (RESOLVED – an EU Demonstration Project) the focus is on liberation and separation. The converting layer (CdTe) was liberated (removed) from the glass carrier by sandblasting and separated subsequently from the blast material (e.g. corundum) and other components using stepwise different separation techniques. Both the glass substrate and CdTe are subject to re-use. The overall feasibility of the recycling process is primarily governed by the efficiency of the procedure applied to the separation of CdTe from the rest (blasting material, glass residues, etc.). This was performed by water-based flotation. Several flotation procedures were studied regarding their separation yields. The distribution of CdTe in the phases involved (flotate, water, residue) was measured using energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (EDXRS) intended for future routine application and by instrumental large-volume photon activation analysis (IPAA) as a reference procedure. The results of both analytical methods were in satisfactory agreement. PB - GDMB-Medienverl. CY - Clausthal-Zellerfeld T2 - European Metallurgical Conference (EMC 2005) CY - Dresden, Germany DA - 2005-09-18 KW - Photovoltaic (PV) KW - Solar energy KW - CdTe-Modules KW - Recycling KW - Separation techniques KW - Monitoring PY - 2005 UR - https://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-bam/frontdoor/index/index/docId/11004 AN - OPUS4-11004 SN - 3-935797-22-2 VL - 4 SP - 1687 EP - 1696 AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany