Recycling

US-based ACE Green is setting up lithium battery recycling plants in Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat, where it will use a zero-waste hydrometallurgical recycling process to extract valuable materials from dead batteries.  

Japan’s Itochu has announced a new tie-up with France’s Rosi Solar, which develops tech to recover and recycle high-purity silver, copper and silicon from solar modules.

The company already has a state-of-the-art lithium battery recycling plant in Roorkee, Uttarakhand, with a recovery efficiency of more than 98% across various battery materials. It said the new plant in Telangana will increase its Li-ion battery recycling capacity to 19,500 MT by the end of 2023 from the current 4,500 MT.

Bengaluru-based Metastable Materials has developed a 100% chemical-free process for extracting metals out of scrap Li-ion batteries. It has set up an ‘Urban Mining Unit’ on the outskirts of Bengaluru, which is capable of processing up to 1,500 tonnes of dead batteries per annum. This unit will start production early next year. Shubham Vishvakarma, founder and chief of process engineering at Metastable Materials, speaks to pv magazine about the role of urban mining in meeting India’s electric mobility ambitions and the advantages of the process developed by them. 

A new study of the environmental impacts of renewable energy finds significant opportunities for solar to reduce its impacts in various categories, including human health, resource depletion, and environmental damage. The study notes in particular that more work is needed to establish a comprehensive reuse and recycling network for end-of-life PV products.

Italian startup Tialpi is developing a process to recycle end-of-life solar panels that promises to recover 100% of a PV module’s weight. The new plant design is currently being tested at the company’s facility in the Italian northern province of Biella.

The Indian startup has opened a lithium battery recycling unit in Bengaluru that deploys a chemical-free process for metal extraction. The facility has the capacity to process 1,500 tonnes of dead batteries per year.

Soren and Envie 2E Aquitaine have inaugurated a new solar module recycling facility in Saint-Loubès, France.

A recent report by the International Energy Agency Photovoltaic Power Systems Programme (IEA PVSP) reviews the current regulatory and industrial landscape for end-of-life PV management in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, South Korea, China, Australia, and the United States.

Indian manufacturer Saatvik has joined Belgium-based PV Cycle’s recycling scheme for damaged solar modules.