Photovoltaic panel recycling: from type-selective processes to flexible apparatus for simultaneous treatment of different types.

Photovoltaic (PV) technology for renewable energy utilization is constantly growing throughout the world. This widespread application is going to determine the disposal of large amounts of wastes (as end of life panels): only in Europe about 500,000 ton/year are expected in the next 20 years. European Union issued the Guideline 2012/19/EU in order to fix rules about end of life photovoltaic panel’s treatment establishing both collecting rates and minimum recovery targets. Currently the dominant PV technology uses crystalline silicon (monocrystalline and polycrystalline) as semiconductor, but the thin film photovoltaic modules using cadmium telluride (CdTe), amorphous silicon, Copper Indium Gallium Selenide (CIGS) and Copper Indium Selenide (CIS) are recently getting much more importance. Wastes of PV installations are secondary raw materials which could be treated in order to recover glass and Al, but also other metals such as Cu, Ti, Ag, Te, In, Se, Ga, along with plastic and metallic components of electronic equipment. Many recent efforts were devoted to the treatment of end of life panels, but only two full scale processes were developed for crystalline silicon modules (Deutsche Solar) and CdTe panels (First Solar). Furthermore, recent developments concerned with new technologies designed for treating together more kinds of photovoltaic panels by automated processes. In this work a picture of the PV world in terms of market, typology, waste dynamics and recoverable materials will be given. A description of full scale processes will be reported evidencing products and yields of recovery. A case study of process development for the simultaneous treatment of different kinds of PV panels will be presented. In particular experimental results in lab and pilot scale will be described regarding the development and optimization of a process including both physical pre-treatment and hydrometallurgical recovery of target metal concentrates. The process will be validated in pilot scale within the activities of the Photolife project (LIFE13 ENV/IT/001033) financed by European Community in the LIFE+ program

Impact of opioid-free analgesia on pain severity and patient satisfaction after discharge from surgery: multispecialty, prospective cohort study in 25 countries

Background: Balancing opioid stewardship and the need for adequate analgesia following discharge after surgery is challenging. This study aimed to compare the outcomes for patients discharged with opioid versus opioid-free analgesia after common surgical procedures.Methods: This international, multicentre, prospective cohort study collected data from patients undergoing common acute and elective general surgical, urological, gynaecological, and orthopaedic procedures. The primary outcomes were patient-reported time in severe pain measured on a numerical analogue scale from 0 to 100% and patient-reported satisfaction with pain relief during the first week following discharge. Data were collected by in-hospital chart review and patient telephone interview 1 week after discharge.Results: The study recruited 4273 patients from 144 centres in 25 countries; 1311 patients (30.7%) were prescribed opioid analgesia at discharge. Patients reported being in severe pain for 10 (i.q.r. 1-30)% of the first week after discharge and rated satisfaction with analgesia as 90 (i.q.r. 80-100) of 100. After adjustment for confounders, opioid analgesia on discharge was independently associated with increased pain severity (risk ratio 1.52, 95% c.i. 1.31 to 1.76; P < 0.001) and re-presentation to healthcare providers owing to side-effects of medication (OR 2.38, 95% c.i. 1.36 to 4.17; P = 0.004), but not with satisfaction with analgesia (beta coefficient 0.92, 95% c.i. -1.52 to 3.36; P = 0.468) compared with opioid-free analgesia. Although opioid prescribing varied greatly between high-income and low- and middle-income countries, patient-reported outcomes did not.Conclusion: Opioid analgesia prescription on surgical discharge is associated with a higher risk of re-presentation owing to side-effects of medication and increased patient-reported pain, but not with changes in patient-reported satisfaction. Opioid-free discharge analgesia should be adopted routinely

Convalescent plasma in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 (RECOVERY): a randomised controlled, open-label, platform trial

SummaryBackground Azithromycin has been proposed as a treatment for COVID-19 on the basis of its immunomodulatoryactions. We aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of azithromycin in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19.Methods In this randomised, controlled, open-label, adaptive platform trial (Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19Therapy [RECOVERY]), several possible treatments were compared with usual care in patients admitted to hospitalwith COVID-19 in the UK. The trial is underway at 176 hospitals in the UK. Eligible and consenting patients wererandomly allocated to either usual standard of care alone or usual standard of care plus azithromycin 500 mg once perday by mouth or intravenously for 10 days or until discharge (or allocation to one of the other RECOVERY treatmentgroups). Patients were assigned via web-based simple (unstratified) randomisation with allocation concealment andwere twice as likely to be randomly assigned to usual care than to any of the active treatment groups. Participants andlocal study staff were not masked to the allocated treatment, but all others involved in the trial were masked to theoutcome data during the trial. The primary outcome was 28-day all-cause mortality, assessed in the intention-to-treatpopulation. The trial is registered with ISRCTN, 50189673, and ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04381936.Findings Between April 7 and Nov 27, 2020, of 16 442 patients enrolled in the RECOVERY trial, 9433 (57%) wereeligible and 7763 were included in the assessment of azithromycin. The mean age of these study participants was65·3 years (SD 15·7) and approximately a third were women (2944 [38%] of 7763). 2582 patients were randomlyallocated to receive azithromycin and 5181 patients were randomly allocated to usual care alone. Overall,561 (22%) patients allocated to azithromycin and 1162 (22%) patients allocated to usual care died within 28 days(rate ratio 0·97, 95% CI 0·87–1·07; p=0·50). No significant difference was seen in duration of hospital stay (median10 days [IQR 5 to >28] vs 11 days [5 to >28]) or the proportion of patients discharged from hospital alive within 28 days(rate ratio 1·04, 95% CI 0·98–1·10; p=0·19). Among those not on invasive mechanical ventilation at baseline, nosignificant difference was seen in the proportion meeting the composite endpoint of invasive mechanical ventilationor death (risk ratio 0·95, 95% CI 0·87–1·03; p=0·24).Interpretation In patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19, azithromycin did not improve survival or otherprespecified clinical outcomes. Azithromycin use in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 should be restrictedto patients in whom there is a clear antimicrobial indication

Photovoltaic panel recycling: from type selective processes to flexible apparatus for simultaneous treatment of different types

Photovoltaic (PV) technology for renewable energy utilisation is constantly growing throughout the world. Many recent efforts were devoted to the treatment of end-of-life panels, but only two full-scale processes were developed for crystalline silicon modules (Deutsche Solar) and CdTe panels (First Solar). Furthermore, recent developments concerned with new technologies designed for treating together more kinds of PV panels by automated processes. In this work, a picture of the PV world in terms of market, typology, waste dynamics and recoverable materials was given. A description of full-scale processes will be reported evidencing products and yields of recovery. A case study of process development for the simultaneous treatment of different kinds of PV panels was presented. In particular, experimental results in lab and pilot scale were described regarding the development and optimisation of a process including both physical pre-treatment and hydrometallurgical treatment for the recovery of target metal. © 2016 The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy

Sulfidic mine tailings and marl waste rock as compatible resources in a microwave-assisted roasting process

status: publishe

Leaching of electrodic powders from lithium ion batteries: optimization of operating conditions and effect of physical pretreatment for waste fraction retrieval

Experimental results of leaching tests using waste fractions obtained by mechanical pretreatment of lithium ion batteries (LIB) were reported. Two physical pretreatments were performed at pilot scale in order to recover electrodic powders: the first including crushing, milling, and sieving and the second granulation, and sieving. Recovery yield of electrodic powder was significantly influenced by the type of pretreatment. About 50% of initial LIB wastes was recovered by the first treatment (as electrodic powder with size 99%) of Co and Li from Sample 1 are 1/10 g/mL as solid/liquid ratio and +50% stoichiometric excess of acid (1.1 M). Using the same solid/liquid ratio, +100% acid excess (1.2 M) is necessary to extract 96% of Co and 86% of Li from Sample 2. Best conditions for leaching of Sample 2 using glucose are +200% acid excess (1.7 M) and 0.05 M glucose concentration. Optimized conditions found in this work are among the most effective reported in the literature in term of Co extraction and reagent consumption. © 2016 Elsevier Lt

First outcomes from PHOTOLIFE PROJECT: process and automated pilot plant for simultaneous and integral recycling of different kinds of photovoltaic panels

Photolife project (LIFE13 ENV/IT/001033) cofinanced within LIFE+ program by the European Community, aims at the design and building of a prototype for automatic treatment of different kinds of photovoltaic panels (Si-based, Cd-Te and innovative types) according to a common process route. A demonstration activity is foreseen including the retrieval and treatment in the prototype of the collected photovoltaic devices. Laboratory data were used to formulate mass balances for the treatment of different kinds of PV panel according to a common process scheme. Photolife process includes mechanical treatment, sieving, solvent treatment of the coarse fraction and acid leaching of fine fraction. Demonstration activities will allow the characterization of EVA residues after solvent treatment and the evaluation of their reuse. Historical data of PV installation in EU were employed to estimate the fluxes of wastes resulting from the disposal of end-life photovoltaic panels during the period 2025-2045. In 2011 in Italy a dramatic increase was registered due to government incentives, but such peak was not maintained during successive years. Accordingly a big amount of wastes should be expected since 2030. More specifically, assuming a distribution function for panel life, the amount of wastes to be treated in Italy will remain around 400.000 ton/year even in the period of maximum waste disposal, i.e. 2030-2055. Preliminary economic analysis of the Photolife process evidenced that feasibility can be reached starting from 75.000 ton/y for the treatment of only Si-based panels, while larger potentiality (>200.000 ton/y) is necessary if only CdTe are fed in the plant. These results encouraged the choice of a unique process route for the treatment of different kinds of PV panels as proposed in the Photolife project. Economic feasibility is reached for potentiality in agreement with future national waste fluxes

Closed-loop hydrometallurgical treatment of end-of-life lithium ion batteries: towards zero-waste process and metal recycling in advanced batteries

This work presents an enhanced hydrometallurgical process for recycling lithium ion batteries. First, end-of-life batteries were processed in a physical pre-treatment plant to obtain a representative electrode material. The resulting leachate was purified forth by iron-precipitation, liquid–liquid extractions, and an innovative Li–Na separation, in order to obtain valuable products. These products include high-grade graphite, cobalt oxide (Co3O4, purity 83%), cobalt oxalate (CoC2O4, purity 96%), nickel oxide (NiO, purity 89%), and lithium carbonate (Li2CO3, purity 99.8%). The recovery rate was quantitative for graphite, between 80% and 85% for cobalt depending on the nature of the recovery method, 90% for nickel, and 72% for lithium. Secondary streams were also valorized to obtain sodium sulfate (Na2SO4, purity 96%), and MnCoFe2O4 magnetic nano-sorbents according to the zero-waste concept. In order to close the loop, recycled Co3O4 and NiO were used as conversion-type anode materials for advanced lithium ion batteries showing promising performances

Physical and chemical treatment of end of life Si-based and CdTe photovoltaic panels

Photovoltaic panels are the emerging technology converting solar radiation into electrical energy, which is expected to provide a fundamental contribution to the shift from traditional fossil fuels to renewable energy-based economies. European community has extended regulations for the treatment of end-life electrical and electronic wastes in order to include the disposal of photovoltaic panels. The legislation currently established collection rates for photovoltaic modules up to 85% and recycling rates up to 80%. In this work different kinds of panels (Si-based panels and CdTe panels) were treated by a process route made up of the following operations: mechanical pretreatment, sieving, and dedicated chemical treatment by solvent or acid of different fractions emerging from pretreatment. More specifically, after crushing, three fractions were obtained: a coarse fraction (>1 mm) requiring further chemical treatment by solvent in order to separate EVA-glued layers from glass fragments; an intermediate fraction (0.3-1 mm) of metal polluted glass requiring further treatment by acid leaching; a fine fraction (<0.3 mm) which could be further treated for precious metal recovery (mainly Ag and Cu). Coarse fractions (72% w/w) were treated by solvent giving recoverable glass fraction (56%w/w), plus metallic contacts, back sheets and EVA. All fractions below 1mm were sieved and chemically characterized for metal content. Intermediate fraction (0.3-1 mm), which are 13 %w/w, were fed to acid leaching in order to obtain another recoverable glass fraction eliminating metal impurities of Fe, Al and Zn. Fine fraction (< 0.3 mm) can be treated for extraction of precious metals (Cu and Ag). The process route allowed to treat by the same scheme of operation mixed feed of Si based panels and Cd-Te panels with an overall mass recovery yield of 85%w/w

Cobalt products from real waste fractions of end of life lithium ion batteries

An innovative process was optimized to recover Co from portable Lithium Ion Batteries (LIB). Pilot scale physical pretreatment was performed to recover electrodic powder from LIB. Co was extracted from electrodic powder by a hydrometallurgical process including the following main stages: leaching (by acid reducing conditions), primary purification (by precipitation of metal impurities), solvent extraction with D2EPHA (for removal of metal impurities), solvent extraction with Cyanex 272 (for separation of cobalt from nickel), cobalt recovery (by precipitation of cobalt carbonate). Tests were separately performed to identify the optimal operating conditions for precipitation (pH 3.8 or 4.8), solvent extraction with D2EHPA (pH 3.8; Mn/D2EHPA = 4; 10% TBP; two sequential extractive steps) and solvent extraction with Cyanex 272 (pH 3.8; Cyanex/Cobalt = 4, 10% TBP, one extractive step). The sequence of optimized process stages was finally performed to obtain cobalt carbonate. Products with different degree of purity were obtained depending on the performed purification steps (precipitation with or without solvent extraction). 95% purity was achieved by implementation of the process including the solvent extraction stages with D2EHPA and Cyanex 272 and final washing for sodium removal. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved