Comparative study on environmental impacts of end-of-life photovoltaic panel treatments using life cycle assessment methodology

• Main Author: 서보라
• Other Authors: 김재영, Bora Seo, 공과대학 건설환경공학부
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 서울대학교 대학원 2021
• Subjects: End-of-life management; Life cycle assessment; Photovoltaic panel; Resource recovery; Transportation; 폐기물 처리; LCA; PV패널; 자원회수; 수송; 624; Arctic; Global warming; Siberia
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10371/177532; https://dcollection.snu.ac.kr/common/orgView/000000166676

학위논문(박사) -- 서울대학교대학원 : 공과대학 건설환경공학부, 2021.8. 김재영. In June 2020, Siberia experienced abnormally high temperatures with a record-breaking 38℃ in the Arctic Circle. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is well-known to be a major greenhouse gas (GHG) responsible for global warming. Among several CO2 emission sources, the contribution of the energy sector accounts for 58.8% of all GHG emissions worldwide. Recently, efforts were undertaken to encourage using renewable energy sources to minimize environmental impacts. Renewable energy sources such as solar energy, wind energy, biomass energy, and geothermal energy provide a promising opportunity for mitigating GHG emission and global warming as substitutes for fossil fuels and could supply 20%–40% of the primary energy demand in 2050. Among those renewable energy sources, solar energy is the most abundant and accessible, in both direct and indirect pathways. By using photovoltaic (PV) cells, solar energy may be directly converted to electricity without emissions, noise, and vibration. In the last decade, the worldwide PV market has increased rapidly. At the end of 2017, the cumulative global installed PV capacity reached 397.4 GW. The typical lifespan of PV panels is 25–30 years, and PV panel waste would thus become a main environmental issue within the next few years. Countries with high cumulative installation capacity would encounter the largest burden of PV waste in the future. At the end of 2050, the cumulative global PV waste amounts could reach 60–78 million tons. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is an effective tool for systematically evaluating the environmental impact of products and/or processes during their life cycle, including manufacturing, operation, and end-of-life (EoL) disposal. Although the environmental impact of PV systems focusing the production and operation phases has been extensively investigated over the past few years, limited studies have focused on the management of EoL PV panels. Considering the dramatic increase in EoL PV panels as an emerging waste ...