A method for the alkaline digestion of soda-lime glass comprising forming a mixture of soda lime glass and a hydroxide solution, the mixture having at least 100 grams of glass per litre of H2O, the hydroxide solution having a concentration of 1M or greater to thereby form an aqueous sodium silicate fraction having a silicate concentration of 50 g/L or greater (calculated as SiO2 equivalent) and a ratio of SiO2:M2O of at least 1, wherein M2O is an alkaline metal oxide, by digesting the glass in the mixture; and separating the aqueous sodium silicate fraction from solids. The solids contain calcium silicate hydrate and undissolved glass. The calcium silicate hydrate can be CSH treated with an acid to thereby dissolve soluble metals from the CSH and separating a liquid phase from a solid phase, the solid phase comprising SiO2 or silica gel.

A process for treating a fines stream in a material recover facility (MRF), comprising: providing an MRF fines stream comprising breakable material and ductile material: subjecting the MRF fines streams to a one-pass kinetic pulverization stage to produce a pulverized material comprising a size-reduced fraction derived from the breakable material and an oversized fraction derived from the ductile material; withdrawing the pulverized material from the kinetic pulverizer; and subjecting the pulverized material to separation to produce a size-reduced stream and an oversized stream. Also provided is a system comprising a kinetic pulverizer, a pulverizer conveyor and a screen operatively coupled to the pulverizer conveyor to receive a pulverized stream and produce a sized-reduced stream and an oversized stream. The system can also include a magnetic separator and a dust collection system respectively located upstream and downstream of the kinetic pulverizer.

An apparatus for producing pozzolanic material from waste includes a glass separator unit to remove glass material from the waste and a size reduction unit downstream the glass separator unit. The glass separator unit includes an outer member and a wound member positioned within the outer member and defining an open central bore. The outer member and the open central bore define respective longitudinal axes extending on a common plane that are disposed at an angle relative to a horizontal reference plane, with the inlet higher than the outlet. Non-glass/non-ceramic material is output through the open outlet end of outer member utilizing a flow of separation fluid. The glass/ceramic material is output to the size reduction unit through the open inlet end of the outer member utilizing the rotating wound member of the glass separator unit.

Glass may be recovered from a used solar module through heating and the application of stress (such as mechanical stress). One or more of ?junction box removal, ?cable removal, and/or ?deframing may result in a used solar module comprising glass adhered to a laminate including polymer and a photovoltaic (PV) material such as crystalline silicon. Heat can be applied via conduction, convection and/or radiation to achieve removal of glass. Applied radiation of specific wavelengths may be absorbed by material(s) of interest (e.g., polymer encapsulant) but not by others (e.g., the glass). Following and/or concurrent with the heating, the module may be subject to stress to allow the glass to detach (e.g., in the form of cullets) from the laminate. One approach may be to bend the glass-laminate combination. This bending effectively creates enough stress for the cullets to detach and separate (e.g., fall under the force of gravity).

The present description relates to press extractors for processing municipal solid waste or source separated organics, and can have large perforations for separation of a wet fraction from a liquid depleted fraction. The extractor can also be operated based on a target plug thickness of the liquid-depleted plug left over in the perforated chamber after compression. The extractors can facilitate good organics extraction yields, and lower operating pressures, among other benefits.

A variety of techniques, performed alone or in various combination(s), may be employed to process used solar modules for disposal and/or recycling. Particular embodiments may leverage weaker adhesion between internal layers of a used module, than between internal layer(s) of the used module adhered to glass (e.g., front and/or back glass sheets). This difference in adhesive strength may allow the application of mechanical energy for delamination. Embodiments may also apply temperature change in the service of delamination. Specific embodiments may involve chemical processing in the form of leaching for the recovery of material. Certain embodiments may introduce chemical reactant(s) and/or solvents (e.g., under pressure) in the form of fluid(s) to permeate through polymeric layers of a module and reach solar module internal module layers formed by vapor deposition. Some embodiments may be particularly suited to the recycling of used CdTe solar modules.

A glass cover disassembly equipment is configured to disassemble a glass cover of an electronic device from a device body of the electronic device. The electronic device further includes an adhesive layer which bonds the glass cover and the device body. The glass cover disassembly equipment includes a cooling device and a separating device. The cooling device is configured to cool the adhesive layer. The separating device is configured to separate the cooled glass cover and the device body.

An assembly for recycling of PV waste within a container is disclosed. Within the container, there is provided the assembly for recycling solar panel, comprising (a) a deframer (20) for removing aluminium frames from each solar panel and junction boxes and copper wiring; (b) a portable I-V tester (30); (c) a shearing tool (41), air compressor and roller table (40) which is responsible for cutting up the deframed panels into smaller slices; (d) a first conveyor (50) and a second conveyor (70) used in transporting the sheared panel pieces from the shearing tool (41); (e) a crusher (60); (f) a sifter (80); and (g) a collection bag (90) to be used to collect recycled material from the sifter (80).

A method for recycling glass scrap from exhausted photovoltaic panels containing organic and substantially lead-free contaminants which allows obtaining industrial-degree liquid sodium silicates and mixed inorganic silicates insoluble in water and in alkaline solutions having a high number of industrial applications. The embodiments also relate to soluble and insoluble silicates obtained by such a method.

The present invention relates to a tool structure of recycling mechanism, which includes a shaft part having two mounting shaft rods respectively located on two opposite ends thereof for assembly on a preset frame rack, and a wheel cutter part disposed on the shaft part and having a plurality of toothed cutters respectively formed in the shape of a trapezoidal tooth, a saw tooth, a blade or a conical tooth on the outer circumference of a rotating wheel. The tool structure can be used in a recycling mechanism to crush and destroy glass panels on the surfaces of the waste materials to be recycled.