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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 127 records · Page 7

Simulation Tools for Characterizing Stress Distribution in Laser Welded Dissimilar Joints

This project focuses on developing a thermo-metallurgical-mechanical modeling method to accurately predict the microstructural evolution and residual stress in laser welding between dissimilar metals, such as HSLA steel and high carbon equivalent (CE) gear steel. The method leverages a comprehensive material database to model the temperature and rate dependent phase transformations, along with their associated effects on material properties, such as thermal expansion and flow stress, throughout the welding process. A key innovation is the incorporation of phase transformation and phase-specific properties, which enhances the accuracy of residual stress predictions. The mixture material in the fusion zone due to the dissimilar metals will also be addressed in the numerical model. This is especially critical in scenarios involving phase transformations in the fusion zone and heat-affected zone (HAZ), where the phase changes can induce substantial residual stress variations. The material database has been generated using JMatPro. The modeling approach is implemented through a custom User Material (UMAT) subroutine, executed with the commercial finite element software Abaqus.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Develop an efficient and cost-effective novel anaerobic digestion system producing high purity of methane from diverse waste biomass

This project focuses on developing an advanced, intensified anaerobic digestion system aimed at transforming the treatment and conversion of organic wastes into valuable products, specifically renewable natural gas. The motivation for this research stems from the limitations of conventional anaerobic digestion technologies, which often face challenges such as long retention times, high operational costs, and incomplete organic material degradation. The new technology called Intensified Versatile Anaerobic Digestion (IVAD), is developed to address these challenges by incorporating innovative reactors and processes that enhance the overall efficiency and output of anaerobic digestion. The significance of this project lies in its potential to revolutionize waste management practices and waste biomass utilization. The IVAD system integrates a hyperthermophilic anaerobic acidification reactor, a hydrothermal treatment (HTT) unit, and both thermophilic and mesophilic methanogenic reactors. This combination enables a higher rate of organic breakdown and energy recovery, resulting in faster processing times, reduced reactor sizes, and lower operational costs compared to traditional systems. Key data include an increase in methane productivity to 1.18 m 3 /m 3 /day, a significant improvement compared to the baseline technology’s 0.64 m 3 /m 3 /day. Additionally, the IVAD system achieves a 45% reduction in levelized cost of energy (LCOE), down to $\$$10.04/MMBTU, and an energy return on investment (EROI) of 3.19, representing an 87% increase over baseline levels. Technical and economic analyses highlight that the IVAD system significantly reduces hydraulic retention time (HRT) and solid retention time (SRT). The HRT for the HTT reactor can be reduced from 1 hour to 0.5 hours, while decoupling SRT from HRT in the anaerobic acidification reactor (AAR) allows for further reductions. These design optimizations lead to smaller reactor volumes, cutting down equipment and construction costs. Despite these advancements, energy consumption remains comparable to conventional methods due to a novel heat recovery strategy, enhancing overall process productivity. The system also achieves in-situ CO 2 removal and ammonia stripping features, resulting in biogas with a methane purity level of 75%, and produces high-quality nitrogen fertilizer as an additional by-product. Public benefits of the IVAD system are substantial, contributing to sustainable waste management and renewable energy production. By providing a scalable solution that can be adopted by dairy farms and similar agricultural operations, the IVAD system helps reduce waste, produce renewable natural gas (RNG) suitable for transportation fuel, and generate fertilizer, supporting a circular economy. This project plays a role in achieving broader environmental objectives by mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and promoting energy independence. Additionally, it offers a pathway for farmers to lower operational costs while adopting practices that are both environmentally sustainable and economically advantageous.

03 NATURAL GAS↗

Simulation Tools for Characterizing Stress Distribution in Laser Welded Dissimilar Joints

This project focuses on developing a thermo-metallurgical-mechanical modeling method to accurately predict the microstructural evolution and residual stress in laser welding between dissimilar metals, such as HSLA steel and high carbon equivalent (CE) gear steel. The method leverages a comprehensive material database to model the temperature and rate dependent phase transformations, along with their associated effects on material properties, such as thermal expansion and flow stress, throughout the welding process. A key innovation is the incorporation of phase transformation and phase-specific properties, which enhances the accuracy of residual stress predictions. The mixture material in the fusion zone due to the dissimilar metals will also be addressed in the numerical model. This is especially critical in scenarios involving phase transformations in the fusion zone and heat-affected zone (HAZ), where the phase changes can induce substantial residual stress variations. The material database has been generated using JMatPro. The modeling approach is implemented through a custom User Material (UMAT) subroutine, executed with the commercial finite element software Abaqus.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Microwave Debinding of Ceramics Produced by Additive Manufacturing

Microwave-assisted debinding offers an innovative approach to processing 3D-printed engineering ceramics. Ceramic parts produced with photopolymer-based additive manufacturing techniques require thermal debinding to remove polymers that bind ceramic particles during the printing process. Microwave-assisted debinding significantly reduces processing times and offers energy savings over conventional thermal treatments due to higher heating rates and more uniform heating. Finite-element modeling of the debinding process allows for the optimization and prediction of temperature distribution, stress development, and potential defects, leading to improved process control and material quality.

36 - MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Innovative Approaches to the Decommissioning of a Redundant Plutonium Processing Facility - 20147

At Sellafield, in the North West of the United Kingdom (UK), there are a number of redundant plutonium processing facilities. Over the past three decades several decommissioning strategies have been deployed to clean up these redundant facilities. Whilst there have been many successes previously reported, there remain many challenges. As previously presented at WM2017 (Paper Ref 17081) some of these challenges have recently been addressed through a new approach which introduced a number of innovations. The purpose of these innovations is to seek ways to significantly reduce risks to both decommissioning personnel and the environment by minimising the extent of physical 'hands on' decommissioning activities and by simplifying the waste production process. This paper provides an update on the progress of these innovations since 2017. Additionally, the paper also provides details of the new decommissioning technologies which have been introduced over the past 2 years to enable the most challenging aspects of the redundant plutonium processing facility to be decommissioned. These new decommissioning technologies address challenges associated with the preparation of process vessels and pipework to enable their safe in-situ size reduction by remote means: - New decommissioning techniques have been introduced to allow penetrations to be remotely cut into process vessels and pipework to provide a means of accessing and controlling the venting of any potential hydrogen gas present. - Additionally, a new large scale bespoke remote diamond wire cutting machine has been designed and manufactured to enable the process vessels to be size reduced in situ. Both of these new cutting technologies have involved collaborative working with specialist equipment suppliers including extensive development, trialling demonstration and commissioning prior to bringing the equipment into operational service. Several years of work have now culminated in reaching the final stages of decommissioning of the redundant plutonium processing facility with decommissioning of the final process vessels now underway and completion expected by the end of 2019. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Nature of innovations affecting photovoltaic system costs

Innovations improve technology costs through various kinds of engineering advancements, including changes to materials choices and device or process designs. Understanding how these innovations relate to cost change can reveal aspects of the process of technology evolution, yet developing such understanding is often not possible with a strictly quantitative approach due to data limitations. In this paper we develop a hybrid quantitative-qualitative framework for relating specific innovations to cost change by using the variables in a quantitative technology cost change model as an organizing principle. We demonstrate this framework by applying it to the cost decline in photovoltaic (PV) systems over the last five decades. This framework generates new understanding of a set of innovations that contributed to PV modules’ sustained cost decline and the more modest trends observed in balance-of-system (BOS) costs. The results show the great diversity of innovations that affected PV costs, drawing on wide-ranging fields of expertise within scientific research and practice. We find that there are differences in the characteristics of innovations that reduced the cost of PV modules compared to innovations influencing BOS costs. Numerous module innovations reduced costs by advancing manufacturing tools and processes that improved material quality. Many BOS innovations reduced costs through a combination of component design changes, integration, automation, digitalization, and standardization. Overall, most innovations in our sample affected PV hardware. However, some also target ‘soft technologies’ such as task durations through innovations like fast-track permitting, which require improved collaboration and process streamlining. This framework also provides insight into the nature of knowledge spillovers between technologies. Both module and BOS hardware innovations show the benefits of PV’s position within an ‘ecosystem’ of continuously advancing technologies in many industries, in particular semiconductors and electronics, and also point to the importance of public institutions for accelerating testing, permitting, and training.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Thermal Process Intensification: Transforming the Way Industry Uses Thermal Process Energy (Workshop Report)

The US Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Advanced Manufacturing Office held the virtual workshop entitled “Thermal Process Intensification: Transforming the Way Industry Uses Thermal Process Energy” in November and December 2020. The workshop brought together participants from universities/laboratories, industries, equipment manufacturers, technology vendors, nongovernmental organizations, and subject-matter experts to discuss transformative technologies and strategies to substantially improve the performance (e.g., energy productivity, thermal efficiency, reduced greenhouse gas [GHG] emissions, reduced number of process steps) of thermal processing systems in the industrial sector. The US industrial sector accounts for 32% of the nation’s primary energy use (including feedstocks), and refining, chemicals, pulp and paper, iron and steel, and food products represent the top energy-consuming sectors. Thermal processing or process heating represents the largest energy use category; it accounts for 63% of all energy use in manufacturing. Additionally, thermal processing is the largest contributor of carbon dioxide (CO2) generation, resulting from combustion of fuels and process related chemical reactions, such as in the case of cement and lime production. The challenge of achieving net-zero industrial GHG emissions is colossal considering the established industrial base that depends mainly on carbon-based processes and energy sources; the time frame and cost to replace carbon-based energy sources and feedstocks; and the long-term outlook for development with large-scale adaptation of alternative non carbon–based technologies. The goals of the DOE Advanced Manufacturing Office Thermal Process Intensification Workshop were as follows: (1) Identify R&D gaps and opportunities to facilitate transformative improvement in industrial thermal processes beyond current technologies and allow for entirely new methods for processing materials; (2) Gain insight into new and innovative approaches to thermally intensify processes, reduce heat demand, harness waste heat, and use fuels and hydrocarbon feedstocks more efficiently; (3) Identify the R&D pathways to thermal process intensification (TPI) with the highest potential for impact and adoption by the industrial sector; (4) Define areas of research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) activities to accelerate development and application of emerging and transformative technologies to intensify thermal processes in industry. The scope and focus of the workshop were defined to meet these goals. Based on the available data for energy use and GHG emissions, the industries that collectively use more than 80% of the total process heating energy consumption were selected as primary focus areas. The chosen industries were combined into the following four groups based on similarities in their thermal processes: high-temperature metal processing (iron and steel industry, alumina-aluminum industry); high-temperature nonmetal and mineral processing (cement and glass industry); medium- to low-temperature thermal processing (food processing and pulp and paper industry as part of forest products sector); and hydrocarbon processing (petroleum refining and chemical industry). Furthermore, all potential TPI technologies associated with the processes defined were considered as part of the workshop. Different types of TPI technologies possible in industrial in the document.

42 ENGINEERING↗

A New Class of SiC Power MOSFETs with Record-Low Resistance

Silicon carbide (SiC) power transistors are used in the main traction inverter of electric vehicles (EVs). Tesla began installing SiC power MOSFETs in 2017, and has now produced 4.8 million EVs containing over 169 million SiC power MOSFETs. Looking ahead, the worldwide EV market is projected to exceed 50 million vehicles per year by 2030 (Reuters, Oct. 25, 2022). This will create a demand for over two billion SiC power MOSFETs per year. Our program aims to double the efficiency of today's commercial power MOSFETs. This will cut the number of MOSFETs per EV in half, reducing cost, simplifying assembly, decreasing weight, and increasing vehicle reliability through reduced parts count. Our approach is to apply innovative design and advanced processing to increase the density of current-controlling channels in SiC power MOSFET. We have developed two new MOSFET devices, each of which increases the channel density by a factor of six over today's best commercial MOSFETs. This required implementing new fabrication processes, creating new device designs, and integrating the processing steps and device designs into a manufacturable technology. In this project we have developed two innovative devices: (i) a novel three-dimensional structure, the "tri-gate MOSFET," and (ii) a deeply-scaled, fully self-aligned trench MOSFET, the "IMOSFET". Both products were experimentally demonstrated during this project and meet the program goals of increased efficiency relative to the current state-of-the art commercial products. In the process we have generated significant IP, with two US patents issued and three applications pending. We have also published three journal articles and given reports on this technology at seven international conferences. The success of this program has led to significant follow-on funding from industry. In May 2023 Purdue University signed a five-year R&D contract with GlobalFoundries to transfer our novel technology to commercial production. With headquarters in Malta, NY, Global Foundries is one of the largest pure-play silicon foundries in the world, with annual revenue of $\$$8.1B. Their SiC foundry will be built around the next-generation 200-mm diameter SiC wafers, which will double the number of die per wafer and reduce per-die production cost.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Cost of Using Laser Powder Bed Fusion to Fabricate a Molten Salt-to-Supercritial Carbon Dioxide Heat Exchanger for Concentrating Solar Power

Advances in manufacturing technologies and materials are crucial to the commercial deployment of energy technologies. We present the case of concentrating solar power (CSP) with molten salt (MS) thermal storage, where low-cost, high-efficiency heat exchangers (HXs) are needed to achieve cost competitiveness. Here, the materials required to tolerate the extreme operating conditions in CSP systems make it difficult or infeasible to produce them using conventional manufacturing processes. Although it is technically possible to produce HXs with adequate performance using additive manufacturing, specifically laser powder bed fusion (LPBF), here we assess whether doing so is cost-effective. We describe a process-based cost model (PBCM) to estimate the cost of fabricating a MS-to-supercritical carbon dioxide HX using LPBF. The PBCM is designed to identify modifications to designs, process choices, and manufacturing innovations that have the greatest effect on manufacturing cost. Our PBCM identified HX design and LPBF process modifications that reduced projected HX cost from $\$750$ per kilo-Watt thermal (kW-th) ($\$8$ /cm 3 ) to $\$350$ /kW-th ($\$6/$ cm 3 ) using currently available LPBF technology, and down to $\$220$ /kW-th ($\$4$ /cm 3 ) with improvements in LPBF technology that are likely to be achieved in the near term. The PBCM also informed a redesign of the HX design that reduced projected costs to $\$140$ –160/kW-th ($\$3$ /cm 3 ).

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Use of Sensors and Machine Learning for Signal Discovery in a Solvent Extraction Process – 23280

Reprocessing is an important step in the nuclear fuel cycle where usable nuclear materials are extracted from spent fuel for recycling. The extraction of materials for reuse simultaneously reduces not only the volume of nuclear waste, but its decay time to radioactivity levels similar to that of the originating uranium ore. As part of an initiative to steward research, development, and innovation into the nuclear fuel cycle, Idaho National Laboratory is designing and constructing a solvent extraction testbed named Beartooth. Beartooth will allow researchers to refine extraction processes, test innovative extraction processes, and give early career scientists opportunities to gain skills in performing separations chemistry that uses centrifugal contactors. In addition, the Beartooth testbed is being uniquely designed to enable novel technologies including machine learning capabilities for the characterization of chemical process operations in near real-time. To aid in the design of Beartooth, a team of researchers are installing a variety of atypical sensors into a system of contactors for signal discovery. The team will implement machine learning methods on sensor data to determine signal features with the goal of providing a process operator with a deeper understanding of the chemical process and equipment usage. This work will summarize sensors utilized and preliminary results from an infrared camera.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

Use of Sensors and Machine Learning for Signal Discovery in a Solvent Extraction Process

Reprocessing is an important step in the nuclear fuel cycle where usable nuclear materials are extracted from used fuel for recycling. The separation of materials for reuse simultaneously reduces not only the volume of nuclear waste, but its decay time to radioactivity levels similar to that of the originating uranium ore. As part of an initiative to steward research, development, and innovation into the nuclear fuel cycle, Idaho National Laboratory is designing and constructing a solvent extraction testbed named Beartooth. This testbed will allow researchers to refine separation processes, test innovative extraction processes, and give early career scientists opportunities to gain skills in performing separations chemistry utilizing centrifugal contactors. In addition, the Beartooth testbed is being uniquely designed to enable novel technologies including machine learning capabilities for the characterization of chemical process operations in near real-time. To aid in the design of Beartooth, a team of researchers are installing a variety of atypical sensors into a system of contactors for signal discovery. The team will implement machine learning methods on acquired sensor data to extract signal features. The goal is to provide a process operator with a deeper understanding of the chemical process and equipment usage. This work will summarize sensors utilized and preliminary results from an infrared camera.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

Restorable Neutralization of Poly(acrylic acid) Binders toward Balanced Processing Properties and Cycling Performance for Silicon Anodes in Lithium-Ion Batteries

Neutralization of poly(acrylic acid) (PAA)-based binders using lithium hydroxide is a common strategy for fabricating silicon anode laminates, which improves rheological properties of slurries toward high-quality electrode laminates. However, the significantly increased basicity causes degradation of Si particles while the irreversible conversion of carboxylic acid groups to lithium carboxylates undermines the binding strength, collectively leading to adverse cycling performance of the fabricated Si anodes. Herein, a novel neutralization process for PAA binders is developed. A weak base, ammonia (NH 3 ), was discovered as a neutralizing agent that still promotes rheological response of binder solutions but results in a reduced pH increase. Interestingly, the resulting ammonium carboxylate groups may cleave during the drying process to restore the neutralized PAA (PAA-NH 3 ) binders to their pristine states. The best-performing composition of 50% neutralization (PAA-50%NH 3 ) provides comparable rheological response as a PAA-Li binder as well as much improved cycling performance. Additionally, the half-cells using the PAA-50%NH 3 binder can deliver 60% capacity retention over 100 cycles at C/3 rate, affording a 23.8% increase compared to PAA-Li half-cells. This restorable neutralization process of PAA binders represents an innovative strategy of mitigating issues from slurry processing of Si particles to achieve concurrent improvements in high-quality lamination and cycling performance.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

Innovative Approach to Recycle Lithium‐Ion Battery Electrolytes via Sequential Chemical Processes

The rapid growth of electric vehicles (EV) has driven the widespread use of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). This will result in a large amount of spent batteries that if not properly disposed will pose significant environmental damage, especially from the electrolyte. The electrolyte contains lithium hexafluorophosphate (LiPF 6 ), which when treated by either incineration or water washing can generate harmful F- and P-containing substances such as hydrofluoric acid (HF). In this study, an innovative two-step process is presented to separate and purify both the solvents and lithium salts from the spent electrolyte. Antisolvent assisted precipitation is used to selectively isolate LiPF 6 salt in the form of a complex with ethylene carbonate. Subsequent distillation then separates the volatile electrolyte solvents and antisolvent from each other effectively. In addition, a new process to further purify LiPF 6 from its ethylene carbonate (EC) complex is also presented. This electrolyte recycling method not only enables the recovery of the high-value LiPF 6 salt and the electrolyte solvents, but also paves the way for environmentally responsible and circular LIB recycling.

electrolyte↗

Process intensification in hydrothermal liquefaction of biomass: A review

Hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) presents a promising pathway for converting wet biomass resources into biofuels, offering significant advantages over conventional methods. However, numerous challenges must be addressed for HTL scale-up, including energy provision for the endothermic process, heat and mass transfer limitations, slurry concentration and pumpability challenges, char and coke formation, and continuous phase separation. This review explores key strategies such as autothermal HTL, which improves process efficiency and reduces external energy requirements by coupling exothermic and endothermic reactions within the same reactor, thereby simplifying reactor design and reducing operational costs. Additionally, multistage HTL processes are highlighted for their ability to optimize biocrude quality and yield by fractionating biomass conversion stages, resulting in higher energy returns on investment and better-quality biocrude. Solvothermal HTL and integration techniques for aqueous phase are also discussed. Furthermore, the HTL patent landscape is discussed to provide insights into current technological advancements. This review aims to offer a comprehensive understanding of process intensification in HTL, highlighting innovative solutions to enhance the efficiency and scalability of the process for sustainable biofuel production.

Biocrude oil↗

Manufacturing Supply Chain Development for Modular Solar-Thermochemical Conversion Platform - CRADA 387 (Final Report)

Modular chemical process intensification (MCPI) is an emerging field where chemical processing is performed using small-scale modular equipment instead of conventional large centralized chemical plants. Conventional chemical plants benefit from economies of scale that encourage scale-up to ever larger plants. A goal of MCPI is to develop technology that intensifies processing so that equipment can be dramatically smaller and integrated into modular systems. Scale-up occurs by adding more modules in parallel rather than making the equipment larger. A key concept is that equipment and modules can ultimately be cheaper by leveraging economies of mass production, analogous to the automotive industry, in manufacturing the equipment. This project made significant progress toward this outcome by meeting the RAPID institute metric to reduce equipment cost by 20% for each doubling in manufacturing volume. The MCPI application was thermochemical technology that is being commercialized by STARS Technology Corporation, one of the CRADA partners. The technology converts solar and renewable power to chemical energy to produce renewable hydrogen, fuels, and chemicals. The benefit to the public is reduction in greenhouse gases that are contributing to climate change. The project transitioned the steam methane reforming (SMR) reactor from conventional fabrication methods to additive manufacturing (AM) direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) process. This is projected to reduce the cost of making a reactor by 58% when producing 100 reactors per year. Innovations in the DMLS process produced a patented design that reduces reactor weight by 60%. Reductions in material costs and processing time extend the DMLS advantage to higher production volumes. The new design promises to be 38% cheaper than the conventional processes at 1000 units per year. The resulting 87% reduction in the steam methane reforming (SMR) module cost in scaling from current costs meets the RAPID metric. The project was successful in producing and testing the first ever additively manufactured SMR reactors. A reactor achieved over 82% efficiency in converting electric power to chemical energy, which is a world record for an inductively heated SMR. The project has contributed to the design and assembly of a first demonstration plant that is headed to a hydrogen bus filling station in Thousand Palms, CA.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Model-Based Ultrasonic Signal Processing for the Nondestructive Evaluation of Additive Manufacturing Components

Ultrasonic testing (UT) for nondestructive evaluation (NDE) is a critical entity necessary to resolve both the quality and precision questions of complex parts evolving from the innovative additive manufacturing (AM) process. This modality provides the essential quantitative information for acceptance and potential flaw detectionof the part under investigation. A primary ingredient in UT besides the required precision robotic hardware for theacquisition of high quality measurement data is the underlying signal processing. It is here that much of the system performance capability resides. In this report,we discuss the basic steps in UT signal processing along with current and future capabilities that must be achieved in order to satisfy the critical demands created by the AM process.

42 ENGINEERING↗

DOE provides targeted technical assistance for manufacturers pursuing energy and resource efficiency

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is committed to providing the industrial sector with resources and funding to support the development of innovative new technologies and processes. Previously, DOE’s Advanced Manufacturing Office was the front door of the department for many manufacturers. This office focused on two main missions: driving innovation in manufacturing technologies, and reducing energy and emissions related to manufacturing. These missions complemented each other in many ways, but as attention in these areas grew, so too did the need for specialization. In October 2022, the Advanced Manufacturing Office was reorganized into two new offices: the Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office (AMMTO) and the Industrial Efficiency and Decarbonization Office (IEDO). For emissions-heavy industries, such as ceramics and glass, the latter office provides research and development funding, technical assistance, and demonstration support to help manufacturers along their journey to reduce emissions and increase resource efficiency. This article overviews the portfolio of resources applicable to ceramic and glass manufacturers through IEDO, including programs that were portioned into this office during the split and new offerings that were added since then. These programs and resources include energy management support, technology-specific guidance, and in-plant technical assistance.

Source record↗

Recovery of Glass and Silicon Solar Cells from Si-Modules Through Laser Processing

This study demonstrates an innovative and environmentally friendly laser-based approach for the efficient recovery of glass and silicon solar cells, allowing the recycling of photovoltaic modules. The methodology involves the use of a high-power pulsed laser beam focusing at various interfaces within the modules. Specifically, the delivery of ultra-short pulse laser energy at the interfaces of glass and polymeric encapsulants, as well as at the encapsulants and silicon solar cells, facilitates the debonding of polymers from both glass and silicon cell surfaces. The debonding occurs through photothermal, ablation, chemical modification, and localized heat generation. The research successfully demonstrates the recovery of glass from commercial mini solar modules of size 11.5 x 6.8 cm 2 and a silicon wafer of size 3.0x1.6 cm 2 . Ongoing efforts aim to extend the effectiveness of this laser-based methodology to comprehensively recycle larger-size components. This innovative approach holds promise for addressing environmental concerns associated with the disposal of solar modules, contributing to sustainable practices in the renewable energy sector.

glass↗