Mechanically driven hybrid recycling of polyolefin elastomer glass–glass photovoltaic module for targeted material recovery

The increasing deployment of glass-glass photovoltaic (PV) modules with polyolefin elastomer (POE) encapsulation creates a need for recycling approaches tailored to these modules. The study aims to develop and evaluate a hybrid recycling process combining mechanical, thermal, and chemical treatments that provides separation and recovery of valuable materials from end-of-life PV modules, supporting more sustainable waste management. High-intensity impact milling fragmented the module into particles, with the coarse fraction (>2.8 mm) retaining 22% of the total mass mainly as bonded multi-layered pieces. Thermal delamination at 500 degrees C decomposed POE and detached glass, solar cells, and metal ribbons, with mass loss analysis confirming that this single fraction contained over 94% of POE. Subsequent hydrometallurgical acid leaching enabled extraction of metals. Its analysis showed that 94% of aluminium and 93% of silver - originating from solar cell metallization - were observed in the coarse fraction. These results proved that strong POE elasticity preserved large, bonded components after mechanical treatment, concentrating most encapsulant and solar cells in the coarse fraction. Additional sieving of the delaminated >2.8 mm material demonstrated that fine sub-fractions (<1 mm), although representing only one-third of the mass, contained more than 98% of the metals within the fraction. The results demonstrated, for the first time, how the mechanical treatment of POE encapsulated glass-glass PV module leads the material separation and distribution. The developed approach enables targeted processing of selected fractions - reducing energy demand and chemical use - and therefore offering an environmentally beneficial and more cost-efficient recycling pathway.