Solar Power World
By Kelly Pickerel | August 11, 2026
OnePlanet releases details today of its proprietary, fully automated recycling process that recovers copper, aluminum and high-purity silicon carrying ore-grade silver from end-of-life solar panels. The process, Photovoltaic Recycling through Integrated Systems and Mechanics (PRISM), has completed engineering testing and will be equipped at OnePlanet’s Florida facility in 2027.
Credit: OnePlanet
PRISM is a redesign of the line running at OnePlanet’s commercial demonstration facility in Green Cove Springs, Florida, which has processed end-of-life crystalline-silicon modules for more than two years. Developed over the past 15 months, PRISM is fully mechanical, using no thermal or chemical separation steps.
In repeated, staged testing of the complete equipment configuration, OnePlanet says that PRISM removed 99.5% of module glass at 99% glass purity before any size-reduction step; recovering clean, saleable glass while leaving the silicon- and silver-bearing cell material concentrated rather than diluted through mixed, crushed streams. OnePlanet says that performance held on monofacial and bifacial modules alike, whether intact or storm-damaged. Proprietary downstream stages then concentrate that material into a silicon stream exceeding 95% purity carrying approximately 1% silver, as well as a 99% pure copper granulate stream, and a 99.9% pure aluminum (6063) product.
“1% silver is not a trace amount. In metallurgical terms, that’s a substantial grade, richer than most mined ore,” said André Pujadas, CEO of OnePlanet. “Combined with silicon above 95% purity, you have a single feedstock that can feed both a metallurgical grade silicon and silver refinery under one roof. Achieving this level of purity for the silicon stream is a substantial milestone in our pursuit of entering the metallurgical grade market, while further diversifying the process to enable 5N silver.”
OnePlanet has been awarded a $14.5 million investment tax credit allocation under the federal Qualifying Advanced Energy Project (48C) program to support construction of its first industrial-scale facility, named River City, which will house the first fully integrated PRISM production lines. OnePlanet’s next development program is the metallurgical-grade silicon (MGS) refining process itself – designed to recover the contained silver within the refining step, so silver emerges as a second finished product – targeted for 2030. Silicon above 95% purity requires far less upgrading to reach MGS specification, significantly reducing the energy and emissions intensity of the refining step compared with producing MGS from virgin quartzite. Once the refinery is online, the silicon output from PRISM would be consumed internally, completing OnePlanet’s transition from materials recovery into the MGS and silver refining markets.
Kelly Pickerel has more than 15 years of experience reporting on the U.S. solar industry and is currently editor in chief of Solar Power World. Email Kelly.

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