Assessing Variability in Toxicity Testing of PV Modules

The present work is a continuation of a research study published at the IEEE PVSC 2018. Last year we investigated crystalline silicon (c-Si) photovoltaic (PV) module toxicity testing results using the Toxicity Characteristics Leaching Procedure (TCLP) method for four different mechanical sample removal approaches: coring, cell cut, strip cut and hybrid. Our previous results showed considerable variability, in particular with the amount of lead in the module, due to differences between these sample removal approaches. In the present work, use of a nonmechanical sample removal approach using a waterjet machine has been explored. Twenty-four samples were extracted by waterjet from twelve PV modules-three different manufacturers and four modules per manufacturer. Each of the test samples was tested with the TCLP method by two independent testing laboratories. This paper reports that the variability of the TCLP test results can be significantly reduced using the waterjet method as compared to the previously reported mechanical methods.