• Resources Recycling
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.50-55
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• 2013

The recovery of copper from spent photovoltaic ribbon was conducted using thermal treatment method at the range of temperature of $300^{\circ}C$ to $600^{\circ}C$ under inert atmosphere. The coating layer consisted of lead of 68.99 wt.% and tin of 31.21 wt.% was melted down at elevated temperatures and was collected on the bottom of crucible. The chemical composition of copper ribbon after thermal treatment was analyzed by ICP-MS (Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry) and the purity of copper was found to be obtained up to about 96 wt.% regardless of temperatures. The cross-sectional area of the specimen was also examined by SEM (scanning electron microscopy) and EDX (energy dispersive X-ray microscopy).