Recycling of CdTe photovoltaic waste

Abstract: A method for extracting and reclaiming metals from scrap CdTe photovoltaic cells and manufacturing waste by leaching the metals in dilute nitric acid, leaching the waste with a leaching solution comprising nitric acid and water, skimming any plastic material from the top of the leaching solution, separating the glass substrate from the liquid leachate, adding a calcium containing base to the leachate to precipitate Cd and Te, separating the precipitated Cd and Te from the leachate, and recovering the calcium-containing base.

Type: Grant

Filed: May 12, 1997

Date of Patent: April 27, 1999

Assignee: Drinkard Metalox, Inc.

Inventors: Robert E. Goozner, Mark O. Long, William F. Drinkard, Jr.