A team of researchers at the University of Newcastle has achieved a significant milestone in solar panel recycling, successfully recovering nearly 100% of silver from end-of-life photovoltaic panels using a scalable, cost-effective mineral-processing technique.
The research team demonstrated their process at pilot scale, marking what is believed to be the world's first continuous flotation trial specifically designed for solar panel recycling. During the trial, researchers processed 22 kilograms of solar-cell material recovered from 468 kilograms of end-of-life panels. Over approximately 90 minutes of continuous operation, almost all of the silver was extracted and concentrated into a high-value product representing just 1.25% of the original material. This concentrated product contained more than 80 times the silver concentration of the starting material.
Silver is the highest-value material found in solar cells, and its efficient recovery has long been seen as critical to making photovoltaic recycling financially viable. Currently, recycling a solar panel costs an estimated $10 to $15, compared to only a few dollars for landfill disposal. The Newcastle team's flotation-based approach could dramatically shift this equation, offering a process that is three to five times less expensive than conventional acid-leaching methods, which often face scalability challenges due to chemical volumes and hazardous waste management.
"This latest work demonstrates that the process can operate continuously at a much larger scale," said Associate Professor Mahshid Firouzi, lead researcher and Deputy Director of the University's Centre for Critical Minerals and Urban Mining. "The challenge is no longer whether silver can be recovered, but whether it can be recovered at a scale and cost that make recycling commercially viable."
The need for effective solar recycling solutions is becoming increasingly urgent. In Australia alone, more than one million tonnes of waste solar panels-containing an estimated 300 to 500 tonnes of silver-are expected to accumulate by 2035. Currently, only a small fraction of end-of-life panels are recycled, with the vast majority ending up in landfill.
By adapting froth flotation, a proven technique widely used in the mining industry, the researchers have applied established technology to one of the fastest-growing waste streams in the renewable energy sector. The process recovers silver without the use of acids, making it both more environmentally friendly and more economically attractive.
Source: University of Newcastle, Australia; research published in ChemRxiv, August 2026.
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