The increase in the annual flux of the end-of-life photovoltaic panels (EoL-PVPs) imposed the development of effective recycling strategies to reach EU regulation targets (i.e. 80% recycling; 85% recovery, starting from August 2018). The recycling targets in a PVP are generally glass, photovoltaic cell and metals, while no scientific paper or patent addressed polymeric fractions recycling and recovery, i.e. encapsulant polymer (EVA) and backsheet (Tedlar), starting from preliminarily milled EoL-PVPs.

In the present study an optimization following the solvent treatment operation of the basic Photolife process (demonstrated at pilot scale), was proposed (lab scale) and validated (micropilot scale), focusing on polymers separation and metals recovery. The optimization was performed by testing 4 different processes. Specifically, the selectivity of the filtration operation (subsequent the solvent treatment) on polymers separation grade was evaluated, demonstrating that Tedlar can be effectively separated from EVA residues. Moreover, in comparison to the basic Photolife, a further operation was introduced treating thermally the EVA residues (containing the PV cell). The metal extraction yields highlighted the effectiveness of that strategy in comparison with direct extraction from the uncombusted EVA residues. Processing 100 Kg of crushed material, 0.03 Kg of Ag, 45.5 Kg of high value glass, 10 Kg of Al scraps and 1.2 Kg of metallic filaments can be recovered. Thanks to the optimization the recycling rate of the implemented process grew up to 82% (75% during demonstration of the basic Photolife process), while the recovery was estimated at 94%. Remarkably, these rates get over with EU Directive.

报废光伏电池板（EoL-PVP）的年通量的增加要求制定有效的回收策略以实现欧盟法规的目标（即从2018年8月开始实现80％的回收； 85％的回收率）。PVP中的回收目标通常是玻璃，光伏电池和金属，而没有科学论文或专利针对聚合物级分的回收和再利用，即密封胶聚合物（EVA）和底片（Tedlar），从初步研磨的EoL-PVP开始。

在本研究中，提出了一种基本的Photolife方法（以中试规模进行展示）的溶剂处理操作后的优化方案（实验室规模），并进行了验证（微中试规模），重点在于聚合物的分离和金属的回收。通过测试4个不同的过程来执行优化。具体而言，评估了过滤操作（随后进行溶剂处理）对聚合物分离等级的选择性，证明了Tedlar可以有效地与EVA残留物分离。此外，与基本的Photolife相比，引入了进一步的操作来对EVA残留物（包含PV电池）进行热处理。与直接从未燃烧的EVA残留物中提取相比，金属提取的产量突出了该策略的有效性。处理100公斤粉碎物料，可以回收0.03千克的银，45.5千克的高价值玻璃，10千克的铝屑和1.2千克的金属丝。由于进行了优化，所实施过程的回收率提高到82％（在基本的Photolife过程演示中为75％），而回收率估计为94％。值得注意的是，这些税率已经超过了欧盟指令。