System and method for separating tellurium from cadmium waste

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method and system for recovery of waste.

1 . A method for recovering tellurium waste comprising:
 contacting a waste solution with a cation exchange resin; and   collecting a tellurium-containing solution from the resin.   
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising removing at least one additional metal from the resin. 
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the additional metal includes copper. 
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the tellurium-containing solution includes substantially all the extracted tellurium from the resin. 
   
   
       5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the cation exchange resin is an iminodiacetic acid chelating resin. 
   
   
       6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the cation exchange resin is an acid cation resin containing at least 8% divinylbenzene. 
   
   
       7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the cation exchange resin is first swelled with water. 
   
   
       8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the waste solution includes cadmium and tellurium. 
   
   
       9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the waste solution was extracted from photovoltaic fragments at ambient temperature. 
   
   
       10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the waste solution was formed after contact with a leaching agent. 
   
   
       11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the leaching agent has a pH of less than 6. 
   
   
       12 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the leaching agent includes sulfuric acid. 
   
   
       13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the sulfuric acid has a concentration of at least 0.5 M. 
   
   
       14 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the leaching agent includes hydrogen peroxide. 
   
   
       15 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the leaching agent has a liquid to solid ratio that is less than 480 mL/kg. 
   
   
       16 . A system for recycling a photovoltaic device comprising:
 fragmenting a photovoltaic device;   exposing at least a portion of a photovoltaic device with a leaching agent to form a liquid phase and a solid phase;   separating the liquid phase from the solid phase;   contacting the liquid phase with a cation exchange resin column;   collecting a tellurium-containing solution from the resin; and   removing cadmium from resin.   
   
   
       17 . The system of  claim 16  further comprising removing at least one additional metal from the resin. 
   
   
       18 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein the additional metal includes copper. 
   
   
       19 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the tellurium-containing solution includes substantially all the extracted tellurium from the resin. 
   
   
       20 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the cation exchange resin is an iminodiacetic acid chelating resin. 
   
   
       21 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the cation exchange resin is an acid cation resin containing at least 8% divinylbenzene. 
   
   
       22 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the cation exchange resin is first swelled with water. 
   
   
       23 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the waste solution includes cadmium and tellurium. 
   
   
       24 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the waste solution was extracted from photovoltaic fragments at ambient temperature. 
   
   
       25 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the waste solution was formed after contact with a leaching agent. 
   
   
       26 . The system of  claim 25 , wherein the leaching agent has a pH of less than 6. 
   
   
       27 . The system of  claim 25 , wherein the leaching agent includes sulfuric acid. 
   
   
       28 . The system of  claim 27 , wherein the sulfuric acid has a concentration of at least 0.5 M. 
   
   
       29 . The system of  claim 25 , wherein the leaching agent includes hydrogen peroxide. 
   
   
       30 . The system of  claim 25 , wherein the leaching agent has a liquid to solid ratio that is less than 480 mL/kg.