Waste assessment, recyclability and circularity of perovskite-silicon tandem PV modules: non-hazardous waste and recyclable by state-of-the-art mechanical recycling technologies

The perovskite-silicon tandem (PST) PV module market is growing in importance. A hurdle for their large-scale deployment is the management of lead toxicity and of potential leaching of lead into the environment – both during operation and at the end-of-life (EoL). This work comprises the classification and assessment of waste from EoL PST PV modules in the EU. It includes leaching tests of four commercial PST PV modules and concludes with the classification as non-hazardous waste. Thus, there are no regulatory barriers to employing the current recycling practices. Further, the technical feasibility of current recycling technologies to the recycling of EoL PST modules was assessed. No technical obstacles to applying recycling approaches currently used for glass-glass crystalline silicon (c-Si) PV modules on PST modules are identified. Finally, the recyclability and circularity of PST modules is quantified by means of the technical recyclability (EN 45555) and the material circularity indicator (MCI, ISO 59020) resulting in values comparable to conventional c-Si modules ranging from 73 to 78 % for the technical recyclability and 0.45 to 0.49 for the MCI. After discussion of potential areas for improvements in recyclability and circularity, it is concluded that the introduction of PST PV modules into the market – and thus, after time, into the waste stream – is no significant challenge for waste management and the existing recycling infrastructure for PV modules.