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Researchers from SP have developed construction material pellets made from recycled solar panels, offering a sustainable alternative that could reduce Singapore's reliance on imported building materials. The project is a collaboration between SP's Advanced Materials Technology Centre and Redux, a family-owned electronic waste recycling company. Over the past year, Redux has collected and processed discarded solar panels, while SP researchers transformed the recycled glass and other materials into construction-grade pellets. In November last year, Redux and its partners opened Singapore's first integrated end-to-end solar panel recycling facility in Tuas. The facility automatically removes aluminium frames from discarded panels before crushing the glass and separating metal-containing fragments. At SP, researchers developed a six-step process using additives to produce pellets ranging from 3mm to 18mm in diameter. According to Dr Li Xiaodong, Senior Manager at SP's Advanced Materials Technology Centre, the larger porous pellets provide thermal insulation and sound absorption, making them suitable for non-load-bearing interior and exterior walls, while the smaller pellets can be used in seamless stone coatings. Pellets with higher metal content are denser and darker, while those made mainly from glass are lighter in colour and can be used for different construction applications.

[Lianhe Zaobao]