Economic and environmental feasibility evaluation study of hydrometallurgical recycling methods for perovskite solar cells

Abstract

This study evaluates the economic and environmental feasibility of three processes to recycle perovskite solar cells (PSCs) that contain lead ions: two adsorption methods, one with HAF/Fe adsorbent (Case 1) and one with WAC-resin (Case 2) adsorbent, and one extraction method that uses water (Case 3). Techno-economic assessment (TEA) indicates that Case 2 is more economically feasible (−2.54 US$ m⁻² PSCs) than Case 1 (447.07 US$ m⁻² PSCs) and Case 3 (2.48 US$ m⁻² PSCs). A life cycle assessment (LCA) was also conducted for four impact categories, global-warming potential (GWP), terrestrial ecotoxicity (TETP), freshwater ecotoxicity (FETP), and human toxicity (HTP). These analyses indicate that Case 3 is less environmentally damaging (−0.04 kg CO₂-Eq, 12,91 kg 1,4-DCB-Eq, −14.55 kg 1,4-DCB-Eq, and 3.50 kg 1,4-DCB-Eq, respectively) than Case 1 and Case 2. Sensitivity analysis of TEA and LCA reveals that the solvent reusability (0–30 times) is the dominant economic and environmental indicator for all PSCs recycling processes, especially Case 1 (447.07–11.30 US$ m⁻² PSCs, 3.83–0.55 kg CO₂-Eq, 2.75–2.73 kg 1,4-DCB-Eq, 0.26–0.22 kg 1,4-DCB-Eq, 90.12–22.00 kg 1,4-DCB-Eq, respectively). Transportation distance of discarded PSCs, adsorbent price, and adsorbent reusability were also found to be major process variables affecting economic and environmental performance. This study provides future guidelines for the development of more economical and environmentally-benign hydrometallurgical processes to recycle PSCs.