The green shift is well underway all around the world as it needs to be, and part of going green is relying on energy sources that are in line with the net-zero goals most countries are aspiring to. Solar is at the forefront of that, for obvious reasons. The sun rises in the east and sets in the West no matter where you are and the fact it’s up there a good 10+ hours a day means there’s power to be had from it.
Solar charging panels are seen all over the place, and they’re becoming as commonplace as it is to think of Load n’ Lift first for dumpster rentals in Trenton and Colborne Ontario. But as much good as they do with clean energy production, solar panels are a bit of a headache when it comes to recycling them once they’ve reached the end of their working lives.
But there’s new research that has come out of Macquarie University in Australia that is indicating that commercial microwaves may make that recycling prep much less of a big deal.
We’re definitely thankful that our dumpsters for rent in Colborne and Trenton are a thousand times more durable and that they can keep on going out to jobsites for years upon years and just come back with the occasional new dent. Part of the advantage of being the best disposal bin rental provider in the area, but we do take interest in anything that’s related to taking away items that aren’t needed / wanted anymore.
That applies to recycling too, and so this news about using micro waves to break down solar panels more quickly is something that’s worthy of a blog entry.
Exclusive Heating
When the silicon in solar panels is being made it passes through a process called ‘annealing’ where materials are heated to temperatures well above 500°C. What’s been determined now is that annealing is actually better done with microwaves and using them means the panels are also easier to disassemble at EOL (end of life).
The reason for this is the way that microwave radiation heats individual substances, and it heats a very thin layer of silicon instead of heating the entirety of all the materials around it as would be the case if an oven was being used. This happens especially fast with a microwave, and then another part of what makes the whole thing easier too is the fact that the microwave doesn’t have to be carefully cleaned after.
Biggest Benefit for Recycling
As it is now solar cell recycling is a very energy intense process where panels are crushed up and then heated to temperatures of 1000°C or more. This extreme heat is what allows valuable components to be extracted from the panels so that they can be used again. The biggest advantage here is in the way the silicon cell pad can be separated from the glass.
As easy as it is to have Trenton and Colborne area dumpster rentals delivered to your job site the same day? Different context and different type of easy, but you’re free to make the connection if you like. We’ll continue talking about using microwaves for solar cell panel recycling though. Using an oven to cook the panels means the some of the reusable solar cell components are destroyed, and the most valuable of them is the toughened glass on the top of the panel. In this case the glass ends up being sold as scrap, but if you recycle the panels using a microwave to heat it up then the glass can be saved because microwaving the silicon softens the plastic in a different way and makes it easy to peel.
Next up with the list of advantages is the way extra chemicals are not needed to wash and dissolve the plastic in the way they would be if the oven process was still being used. There is some challenge in finding way to make them microwaves capable of heating up to those types of temperatures and then being able to handle them.
Success so far there though with developing the types of units that could become commonplace for solar panel recycling and refurbishing. Some of the prototypes developed so far are able to go from room temperature to 500 degrees Celsius in as little as two seconds.
Call Load n’ Lift first for Trenton dumpsters or Colborne disposal bins that we can deliver directly to your jobsite, and often the same day you call for them. We bring them, you fill them, and then we take them away full of as much waste as you can make and dispose of it in a responsible manner and in full accordance with Ontario Provincial guidelines. We have senior citizen and military discounts available on our dumpster rentals and remember that we have different size dumpsters to rent – 7, 8, 11, 16, 20 and 25 yard container sizes available for Trenton and Colborne waste disposal services.
