Leaching of cadmium and tellurium from cadmium telluride (CdTe) thin-film solar panels under simulated landfill conditions.

ABSTRACT: A crushed non-encapsulated CdTe thin-film solar cell was subjected to two standardized batch leaching tests (i.e., Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP) and California Waste Extraction Test (WET)) and to a continuous-flow column test to assess cadmium (Cd) and tellurium (Te) dissolution under conditions simulating the acidic- and the methanogenic phases of municipal solid waste landfills. Low levels of Cd and Te were solubilized in both batch leaching tests (<8.2% and <3.6% of added Cd and Te, respectively). On the other hand, over the course of 30days, 73% of the Cd and 21% of the Te were released to the synthetic leachate of a continuous-flow column simulating the acidic landfill phase. The dissolved Cd concentration was 3.24-fold higher than the TCLP limit (1mgL^-1

SUBMITTER: Ramos-Ruiz A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5607867 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature