PV module recycling FAQ

Sorting and assessment, then frame removal. Sorting is what allows the rest of the line to run at one consistent setting, and frame removal is the step that protects the value of every stream that follows.

Because shredding an aluminium frame into a glass and laminate stream contaminates both at once, and there is no economic way to separate them afterwards. Removing the frame intact keeps the aluminium remeltable and the glass clean.

No. The frame removal step is automated on the machine we build, running one module per minute. Junction box removal is usually a manual or semi-automatic station because box designs and cable lengths vary, and it is a low-cost step either way.

Yes, but on a different setting and usually as a separate batch. Broken modules bring loose glass and fragments, so containment, extraction and a slower infeed become the design drivers rather than through-put.

In most markets it goes to energy recovery or a specialist processor. For plant design the practical point is to collect and account for it separately rather than to plan on selling it.

The station that removes your existing bottleneck. For framed modules that is usually the frame removal machine, because it produces a clean aluminium stream and protects everything downstream. For frameless or thin-film feedstock the first purchase is usually glass and containment instead.

One module per minute — roughly 45 seconds of machine processing and about 5 seconds of operator loading — which the equipment brief states as 1 t/h. Achieved tonnage depends on the average module mass in your feedstock.

Yes, if clamping and tooling are adjustable and the modules are presented consistently. Most plants run different module types as separate batches rather than alternating within a shift, because the changeover costs less than running a setting that suits neither.

If you want clean glass cullet, yes. A shredder reduces material; it does not separate glass from laminate. The two are complementary stages, with the glass released before reduction.

On the frame removal machine: the chain and sprocket, the four positioning cylinders and the positioning rubber. Chains are a standard industrial size and usually sourceable locally; the cylinders and rubber are the parts to hold as spares.

Machines are tested and the press commissioned in our works, then crated and loaded into containers. We supply foundation and utility drawings, and we provide erection supervision, commissioning on your modules and operator training at site.

It cannot be quoted responsibly without the scope. The largest driver is automation level, followed by the number of stations and separation steps, then the containment scope. We quote a defined scope rather than a headline figure.

That depends on your gate fee, your local output prices, your labour cost and your transport distances — none of which we control. What we can tell you is how each equipment choice changes yield, output quality and labour per tonne, and you can build the calculation from your own market numbers.

We do not publish one, because a figure calculated in one market would be misleading in another. Any supplier quoting payback without your gate fee, output prices and labour cost is making those numbers up.

Yes, and most projects do. The important part is to state the intended end configuration at quotation stage so the transfer heights, utility provisions and space reservations in phase one suit phase two.

No. We manufacture and export the equipment. We do not operate a recycling plant, we do not accept waste modules and we do not offer collection, take-back or disposal services. If you need those services, you need a permitted waste operator.

At our 60,000 m² works in Xingyang, Zhengzhou, Henan, China. We have been building recycling and processing equipment since 2005 and have shipped to more than sixty countries.

Factory visits are welcome and are arranged against machine build schedules, so it is worth planning ahead. Tell us which machine and which module type you want to see, and we will confirm what is available to run at that time.

No. Our equipment goes to permitted waste operators, solar asset owners and EPC contractors handling decommissioning, module manufacturers dealing with production scrap and returns, and resource recovery businesses adding a PV line.