Energy, Exergy, and Environmental Screening of Mechanical, Chemical, and Thermal Recycling Pathways for End-of-Life Crystalline Silicon Photovoltaic Modules: Implications for Recycling Infrastructure Planning and Decision Support

The increasing deployment of crystalline silicon photovoltaic (c-Si PV) modules is expected to generate substantial end-of-life waste, requiring recycling strategies that consider material recovery, energy use, environmental performance, and future infrastructure needs. This study develops a literature-informed energy–exergy screening framework for comparing mechanical (MR), chemical (CR), and thermal recycling (TR) pathways. Literature-derived process evidence was distinguished from calculated indicators and scenario-based parameters to accommodate differences in process scale and data completeness. The literature inventory indicated 96.0 kWh t−1 of electricity for a pilot-scale MR process, while documented solvent/ultrasonic EVA delamination and pyrolysis required 7.14 and 25.0 kWh m−2, respectively. Under the assumed reference scenario, energy demands were 1.72, 4.30, and 6.77 kWh panel−1 for MR, CR, and TR, respectively, with corresponding scenario-based screening thermodynamic efficiency indicators of 48.4%, 50.9%, and 53.1%. The analysis identified mechanical liberation, EVA removal, and thermal decomposition as pathway-specific process hotspots. Integrated environmental and infrastructure scenarios further demonstrated that pathway relevance depends on waste throughput, facility scale, and electricity decarbonization. The framework therefore provides a transparent screening approach for linking heterogeneous process evidence with recycling-infrastructure planning and decision support, without prescribing a universally superior recycling pathway.