Distinct recovery of copper and aluminum from waste electric wires using a roll-type electrostatic separator

End-of-Life Photovoltaic Modules

More than 78 million tons of photovoltaic modules (PVMs) will reach their end of life (EOL) by 2050. If they are not responsibly managed, they can (a) pollute our terrestrial ecosystem, (b) indirectly encourage continuous mining and extraction of Earth’s finite resources, and (c) diminish the net environmental benefit of harvesting solar energy. Conversely, successfully recovering them could reduce resource extraction and waste and generate sufficient economic return and value to finance the production of another 2 billion PVMs by 2050. Therefore, EOL PVMs must participate in the circular economy, and business and political leaders are actively devising strategies to enable their participation. This article aims to facilitate and expedite their efforts by comprehensively reviewing and presenting the latest progress and developments in EOL PVM recovery methods and processes. It also identifies and thoroughly discusses several interrelated observations that impede or accelerate their efforts. Overall, our approach to this article differs but synergistically complements and builds upon existing life cycle assessment-based (LCA-based) contributions.

Recovery of copper and aluminium from coaxial cable wastes using comparative mechanical processes analysis

This work aims to perform a comparative study of two mechanical processes for the recycling of metals from coaxial cables (aluminium and copper-clad steel): Process I - comminution, sieving and electrostatic separation; and Process II - comminution, magnetic separation and electrostatic separation. Characterization techniques were performed on the cables to discover their composition. The parameters evaluated of electrostatic separation were: roll speed (n), electrostatic electrode distance (D2), voltage applied to the electrodes (U) and splitter angle (γ). The best conditions for electrostatic separation were: Process I - n = 30 rpm, D2 = 8 cm, U = 30 kV and γ = 0°; Process II - n = 10 rpm, D2 = 10 cm, U = 25 kV and γ = 2.5°. Process I presented aluminium with purity of 99.51% and recovery efficiency of 94.53%, as well as copper-clad steel with purity of 96.79% and recovery efficiency of 99.68%. Process II presented aluminium with purity of 96.51% and recovery of 70.12%, as well as copper-clad steel with purity of 99.53% and recovery of 99.46%. A simplified economic assessment was performed on both process, and Process I has demonstrated to be the most profitable for coaxial cable recycling. The results showed that Process I is promising for the recovery of metals from cables due to its simplicity and lower cost, being capable of wide application to other processes that contain a mixture of conductive and non-conductive particles.