TY - JOUR
T1 - Separation Between Silicon and Aluminum Powders Contained Within Pulverized Scraped Silicon-Based Waste Solar Cells by Flotation Method
AU - Harada, Sho
AU - Uddin, Md Azhar
AU - Kato, Yoshiei
AU - Kawanishi, Takanori
AU - Hayashi, Yoshiaki
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was carried out under the project of NEDO (New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization), entitled ?Development project for photovoltaic (PV) recycling technology?.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019, The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society.
PY - 2019/12/1
Y1 - 2019/12/1
N2 - There are few study examples on the separation of metals by floating method. In this study, separation of silicon and aluminum, which are the main components of silicon-based solar cell module, was carried out by floating method in order to purify silicon from waste solar cell module. The selection of surfactant, control of electric charge, wettability of the solid particles, surface tensions, and bubble surface area are important for separation of solids by floating method. Sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) can increase the hydrophobicity of aluminum powder due to the difference of surface potentials between silicon and aluminum. SDS behaves as a collector of aluminum as well as a frothing agent to decrease the bubble size. At a SDS concentration of 2 g/L and sample dipping time of 10 min, 80.1 mass% of aluminum was floated and separated, and the sedimentary silicon reached a purity of 90.7% from a mixture of 50 mass% aluminum and 50 mass% silicon. Finally, at a pH value of 7.0, SDS concentration between 1.0 and 2.5 g/L and air flow rate of 2.5 L/min (STP) were suitable experimental conditions to purify silicon from a mixture of silicon and aluminum by flotation separation method.
AB - There are few study examples on the separation of metals by floating method. In this study, separation of silicon and aluminum, which are the main components of silicon-based solar cell module, was carried out by floating method in order to purify silicon from waste solar cell module. The selection of surfactant, control of electric charge, wettability of the solid particles, surface tensions, and bubble surface area are important for separation of solids by floating method. Sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) can increase the hydrophobicity of aluminum powder due to the difference of surface potentials between silicon and aluminum. SDS behaves as a collector of aluminum as well as a frothing agent to decrease the bubble size. At a SDS concentration of 2 g/L and sample dipping time of 10 min, 80.1 mass% of aluminum was floated and separated, and the sedimentary silicon reached a purity of 90.7% from a mixture of 50 mass% aluminum and 50 mass% silicon. Finally, at a pH value of 7.0, SDS concentration between 1.0 and 2.5 g/L and air flow rate of 2.5 L/min (STP) were suitable experimental conditions to purify silicon from a mixture of silicon and aluminum by flotation separation method.
KW - Floating separation
KW - Flotation
KW - Silicon
KW - Sodium dodecyl sulfate
KW - Waste solar cell module
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U2 - 10.1007/s40831-019-00246-6
DO - 10.1007/s40831-019-00246-6
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85073968293
VL - 5
SP - 551
EP - 560
JO - Journal of Sustainable Metallurgy
JF - Journal of Sustainable Metallurgy
SN - 2199-3823
IS - 4
ER -