The end-of-life (EoL) c-Si photovoltaic (PV) solar cell contains valuable silver, and chemical leaching can extract silver from the cell. However, limited works have been reported on the leaching kinetics and hydrodynamic behaviour of silver leaching process. In this work, an integrated experiment and numerical study are conducted to understand and optimise the silver leaching process in rotating systems. First, the lab-scale physical experiments are conducted to obtain a reaction kinetics model of silver leaching from PV cells. Then, a CFD-DEM model is developed to describe the reacting flow details related to solar cell particles' leaching process including this kinetic model. The model is validated against the lab measurement in terms of flow pattern and leaching performance. Then the CFD-DEM model is applied to a larger rotating system and studies the effects of rotator speed, rotator length, and rotator shape on leaching efficiency. The simulation results indicate that the particles inside the reactor experience mixing, transition, and suspension states with increased rotator length and rotator speed. In the transition state, the particles accumulate near the wall and form a packed bed, leading to the lowest leaching efficiency. In the suspension state, the particles are well fluidized and form a loose, ring-like particle wall. The leaching efficiency has a positive relationship with the fluidization level of the solid phase. The results also show that the leaching efficiency drops when linearly scaling up the reactor size while fixing other operating conditions. This work lays a foundation for process scale-up and optimization of EoL PV panel recycling.

报废 (EoL) 的 c-Si 光伏 (PV) 太阳能电池含有有价值的银，化学浸出可以从电池中提取银。然而，关于银浸出过程的浸出动力学和流体动力学行为的报道有限。在这项工作中，进行了综合实验和数值研究，以了解和优化旋转系统中的银浸出过程。首先，进行实验室规模的物理实验，以获得光伏电池中银浸出的反应动力学模型。. 然后，开发了一个 CFD-DEM 模型来描述与太阳能电池颗粒浸出过程相关的反应流动细节，包括该动力学模型。该模型在流动模式和浸出性能方面通过实验室测量得到验证。然后将CFD-DEM模型应用于更大的旋转系统，研究了转子速度、转子长度和转子形状对浸出效率的影响。模拟结果表明，随着转子长度和转子速度的增加，反应器内的颗粒经历混合、过渡和悬浮状态。在过渡态，颗粒在壁附近堆积并形成填充床，导致浸出效率最低。在悬浮状态下，颗粒充分流化，形成松散的环状颗粒壁。固相水平。结果还表明，在固定其他操作条件的同时线性扩大反应器尺寸时，浸出效率会下降。这项工作为 EoL PV 面板回收的工艺放大和优化奠定了基础。