The importance of recycling in the solar/PV industry is globally recognized. PES has followed LOSER CHEMIE for a long time. This new joint venture takes them nearer the goal of 100% reuse of the discarded products and materials and also provides support to the industry in various other ways.
Whether or not this story shall ultimately go down in the economic history of Freiberg/Germany as a success story is not yet clear. For this, the young company FRESITEC (Fig.1), a 100% sister of LOSER CHEMIE, is still too young, only time will tell. They are both 100% daughters of the newly established L´FFICIENCY Holding.
Fresitec has set itself the goal of continuing and expanding the recycling activities of the SolarWorld at the former site, in Freiberg in Saxony, Germany. The company has 20 years’ experience in reworking, upgrading und recovering silicon in many forms and formats. Fresitec can take the silicon produced from the recycling process as feedstock.
Their portfolio includes mechanical and chemical processes as well as innovative crystallization techniques. The business processes started in November 2017 and now the L´FFICIENCY Holding group is very well positioned along the value chain. This February the first silicon ingot was produced.
The range at FRESITEC includes all kinds of high-tech equipment for mechanical and chemical processing of silicon. Four recrystallization furnaces of the latest generation (Fig. 2), which can cast ingots in sizes from 20kg – 960kg.
The furnaces are suitable for the following processes:
• Production of ingots for solar and non-solar applications; recrystallization of silicon; purification of material; substrate for sputtering targets
• Production of dopant alloys (n-type and p-type); material certification for silicon manufacturers; custom ingots for research purposes; directional solidification for purifying silicon in ingot sizes from 20kg – 960kg; purity analysis and quality control of silicon targets and bricks through infrared (IR) and (MDP) carrier lifetime imaging, including detection of cracks, inclusions and impurities
FRESITEC GmbH uses various fully and partially automated etching tools, which are capable of chemically cleaning material of various shapes and sizes. The close collaboration with LOSER CHEMIE enables good synergies in the value added from recycling silicon based photovoltaic modules.
The key is the innovative recycling technology of LOSER CHEMIE. Contrary to conventional technologies, like shreddering, LOSER CHEMIE doesn’t break the glass. When processing end-of-life PV modules, grainy silicon is produced next to high-purity glass. This silicon can be considered as a secondary raw material, if the remains of the metallic contacts are successfully removed.
