Life Cycle Assessment Of CIGS Thin Film Solar Cells

Global environmental pollution has become an increasingly serious social problem.Solar energy,an inexhaustible clean energy,plays an increasingly important role.As an emerging energy,thin film solar cell plays a very important role in promoting method transformation,structural adjustment and sustainable development.With its high conversion efficiency,it has become one of the key research projects in the global photovoltaic field.Among them,CIGS thin film solar cell relies on its own high conversion rate and high energy efficiency Less consumables and other advantages become the main development object.Although the use of solar power technology in the process of avoiding environmental pollution,but in the whole life cycle process of the impact on the environment still can not be ignored.In this study,a typical CIGS thin film solar cell is selected as the research object.Based on the life cycle assessment(LCA)evaluation method,a life cycle assessment model of products from"cradle"to"grave"is constructed.Cml2001 evaluation method is used to quantitatively assess the energy effect and environmental impact.In addition,through the available data,the energy and environmental effects of different forms of energy(solar energy,hydropower,wind power,nuclear power,etc.)and different solar cells(CIGS,CdSe,CdTe,polysilicon and monocrystalline silicon)are compared respectively.The results show that the total primary energy demand(PED)of CIGS thin film solar cells(15.2%conversion efficiency and 30 years life)is 7123.38 MJ/kWp;The energy recovery period of epbt is 1.65-3.97 years,which is far less than the 30-year service life of CIGS thin film solar cells.From the perspective of energy saving,it can be seen that the development prospect of CIGS thin film solar cells in various regions of China is very good.In the aspect of environmental effects:the depletion of abiotic mineral resources(ADPE)is 4.78E+00 kg sb-eq/kWp;The consumption of abiotic fossil energy(ADPF)is 6.19E+03 MJ/kWp;The global warming potential(GWP)is 6.18E+02 kg CO₂-eq/kWp;The acidification effect(AP)is4.46E+00 kg SO₂-eq/kWp;The water eutrophication(EP)was 1.58E+00 kg phosphate-eq/kWp;The fresh water ecotoxicity(paetp)was 1.44E+03 kg 1,4-DCB-eq/kWp;The terrestrial ecotoxicity(taetp)was 1.81E-01 kg 1,4-DCB-eq/kWp;The human toxicity(HTP)was4.58E+02 kg 1,4-DCB-eq/kWp;The ODP was 2.41E-05 kg CFC-eq/kWp;The photochemical smog(POCP)was 1.96E-01 kg Ethene-eq/kWp;Land competition(SW)is 3.11E+01 m²·yr/kWp.After normalization,the environmental impact effect of CIGS thin film solar cell life cycle was obtained:the cell manufacturing stage was 6.98E-09,the production stage was2.89E-09,the balance system is 1.07E-08,the transportation stage is 7.05E-11;the recylcling and treatment stage was-6.35E-09.Through the comparative analysis of the environmental impact of CIGS thin film solar cells in the whole life cycle,it is concluded that the CIGS cell manufacturing is the most important stage in the whole life cycle.Then,through the comparative analysis of CIGS cell manufacturing units,it can be seen that the processing process of molybdenum plating substrate,CIGS metal pre fabricated layer,CIGS metal pre fabricated layer,CIGS metal pre fabricated layer,CIGS metal pre fabricated layer,CIGS metal pre fabricated layer,CIGS metal pre fabricated layer,CIGS metal pre fabricated layer The contribution value of bus bar welding to the overall environment is relatively large.The environmental emissions of the main pollution producing units can be reduced by using stainless steel and other materials instead of glass substrate,optimizing resource exploitation structure,and using ICI roll to roll technology.The comparison results of different forms of energy power generation show that the solar power generation technology represented by CIGS has less disposable energy demand than other forms of power generation,and slightly higher than other forms of power generation except coal-fired power generation in terms of global warming,acidification,water eutrophication,ozone layer destruction and photochemical smog.The comparison results of different types of solar cells show that the order of energy recovery period is monocrystalline silicon>CIGS>polycrystalline silicon>CdSe>CdTe.In terms of environmental impact,the demand for disposable energy is monocrystalline silicon>CIGS>polycrystalline silicon>CdSe>CdTe;The influence of global warming:monocrystalline silicon>CIGS>polycrystalline silicon>CdTe>CdSe;Acidification potential:CIGS>monocrystalline silicon>polycrystalline silicon>CdTe>CdSe;Human toxicity:CdSe>CIGS>monocrystalline silicon>polycrystalline silicon>CdTe;Water eutrophication:monocrystalline silicon>polycrystalline silicon>CIGS>CdTe>CdSe.