Comstock Metals gets closer to commissioning commercial-scale solar panel recycling facility

Comstock Inc., headquartered in Virginia City, Nevada, and its Comstock Metals LLC subsidiary in Silver Springs, Nevada, have announced that significant portions of the equipment, manufactured to proprietary specifications, have arrived in Silver Springs for installation, testing and integration into the 100,000-ton-per-year solar panel recycling production line. Commissioning will continue through March and into early April, with operations planned to begin in the second quarter of this year, the companies say.

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Manufacturing of the equipment began with an engineered design process focused on durability, accuracy, speed,and maximizing throughput, Comstock Metals says. Each system is modeled using advanced CAD platforms to ensure exact tolerances for shredding, conditioning and, ultimately, critical materials separation and recovery. The shredding systems are currently being assembled.

“Our team is now fully deployed and engaged in every aspect of our facility upgrades, storage build out and the all of the work associated with commissioning our first industry-scale recycling process and we have now received the major front-end components of our proprietary shredding systems,” says Fortunato Villamagna, president of Comstock Metals.

“Our design allows us to commission and evaluate each unit operation independently as they are installed, effectively streamlining the process and accelerating the full startup and eventual ongoing, continuous operations,” he adds.

Villamagna says installation also involves the interconnection of the various unit operations and completing the communication interfaces between the various systems in addition to precision leveling, operational and electrical integration with facility power infrastructure and calibration of automated control systems.

“Our disciplined approach with technology and systems readiness required a multiyear operation of the commercial demonstration facility, enabling this final, first-of-its-kind design and ordering of the industrial-scale systems,” says Corrado De Gasperis, executive chairman and CEO of Comstock. “The ‘unit operation model’ deployed in the commercial demonstration facility is what enabled the company to independently commission each part of the full-scale plant independently, streamlining startup. The project for readying, receiving and commissioning this facility in Silver Springs is in full swing with frequent updates forthcoming on commissioning.”

Additionally, Comstock Metals says it has completed and submitted its first major operating permit application with the state of Nevada for its second, integrated, industry-scale facility in Clark County and has begun engaging with the city, county and surrounding industrial neighbors and community.