ION to develop solar panel recycling technology

Published 10-NOV-2025 11:08 A.M.

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Our recycling Investment IonDrive (ASX: ION) just started development work on solar panel recycling to recover silver and silicon…

ION will be applying its Deep Eutectic Solvents (DES) process to end-of-life solar panels looking to separate silver and silicon.

See our deep dive into how ION’s DES process works here: How does ION’s tech work and how does it compare to other ASX listed players?

ION’s tech will go into monetising the disposal/recycling costs of solar panels which is ~$500–$1,000 per tonne in Australia (with landfill charges often >$400 per tonne).

In Australia alone there are ~120M installed solar panels and by 2030 there is ~100,000 tonnes of panels expected to be considered “end-of-life” which wll have recoverable materials market worth over $1 billion in silver, silicon, aluminium, and glass…

(Source)

ION will be testing its tech to see if it can recover silver (47% of the value of end-of-life solar panels) and silicon (11% of the value of end-of-life solar panels)…

The silicon is particularly interesting because ION will be looking to recover three different types that sell for up to ~US$308,000 per tonne:

Metallurgical-grade material (typically $1,500– $4,600 per tonne)
Solar-grade silicon ($15,000–$46,000 per tonne)
Electronic-grade silicon used in advanced battery anodes and semiconductor wafers ($77,000–$308,000 per tonne)

ION will be running the development works across two programs:

A commercial lab in the UK - where lab screening and an updated techno-economic analysis are scheduled for completion at the end of November 2025.
The University of Adelaide in Australia - Stage 1 (desktop studies) expected to be completed in the March quarter 2026.

ION also mentioned it is looking at potential feedstock deals “from commercial operators in Australia and Taiwan” and that “commercial discussions are underway with major recyclers in Germany, and in the Netherlands for structured supply partnerships”…

So we could see some newsflow on feedstock soon too.

(Source)

At this stage its fairly early stage, but we are looking forward to seeing what comes from the solar panel recycling tech.

What’s next for ION?

Over the next 6 or so months, we think one (or multiple) of the below catalysts could trigger a sustained re-rate in ION’s market cap:

US rare earths partnership (possibly the most market topical right now) - ION will be testing its tech on e-waste feedstock to see if it can commercially recover rare earths. IF successful, ION’s tech could be rolled out across recycling facilities processing ~40M lbs of e-waste feedstock annually.
Pilot plant build for battery recycling tech - as mentioned in a prior article we did, we think this will be a big inflection point for ION. ION expects to have the plant built and commercially producing by “early 2026”.
EU consortium progress - The consortium has over €3M committed to trying to build battery cells using recycled battery metals from black mass (waste batteries). The consortium is partly funded by an EU grant of ~€2.07M.
ION’s mineral processing tech gets de-risked - ION is testing its technology on “US sourced feedstock”. Any big feedstock supply deal, partnership deal or any strong recovery results could be a big unexpected catalyst for ION.
Application into new markets - ION is aiming to recover copper, gold, silver, osmium and rare earth elements from e-waste (Printed Circuit Boards). Now we have the solar panel recycling tech being developed too. Results from these tests could come at arbitrary times. We could see the market re-rate ION if the results are positive.
Graphite upgrade results - updates on this front came from a recent ION’s announcement. If ION can produce anode-grade graphite from recycled black mass, it could add to the economics of its pilot plant and strengthen the commercial case for a bigger plant.
Testing on EU cobalt deposit - ION has signed a deal with ASX listed Latitude 66 to test its tech on the company’s cobalt project in Finland.
Updates on Livium Binding agreement - ION signed an agreement to test its Deep Eutectic Solvent recycling tech on solar panels, battery black mass, and rare earth magnets, potentially leading to commercial supply and co-location agreements within Australia.
Solar Panel Recycling - Announced today, with the University of Adelaide, ION is testing its DES recycling tech on end-of-life solar panels to recover high-value silver and silicon.