The objective of this study is to degrade the polymer layers within crystalline silicon (c-Si) photovoltaic modules and delaminate the essential valuable minerals for recycling, employing solely the thermodynamic attributes of water under subcritical conditions and abstaining from the utilization of chemical solvents. The c-Si wafer was successfully delaminated from the polymer structures at 200 °C, 100 bar for 30 min in a high-pressure reactor and ground in a planetary ball mill, where the experimental conditions were optimized for energy consumption using a Box-Behnken design. Hydrothermal subcritical delamination process provides structural changes in the polymer layers due to swelling of the ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) and hardening of the backsheet. The energy consumption measured at the laboratory scale corresponds to the optimum response value of 0.132 kWh, demonstrating the effectiveness of the study under short-term and stable conditions.

中文翻译：

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亚临界水分层：关键矿物高效回收的一条有前途的途径


本研究的目的是仅利用亚临界条件下水的热力学属性，不使用化学溶剂，降解晶体硅 (c-Si) 光伏模块内的聚合物层，并使重要的有价值矿物分层以进行回收。 c-Si 晶圆在高压反应器中在 200 °C、100 bar 的压力下持续 30 分钟，成功从聚合物结构中剥离，并在行星式球磨机中研磨，其中使用 Box-Behnken 优化了实验条件以降低能耗设计。由于乙烯醋酸乙烯酯 (EVA) 的溶胀和背板的硬化，水热亚临界分层工艺​​导致聚合物层发生结构变化。实验室规模测量的能耗对应的最佳响应值为0.132 kWh，证明了该研究在短期稳定条件下的有效性。