Glass is separated from silicon through mechanical crushing followed by optical or density-based sorting. In some processes, the entire solar module is heated to break down the adhesive layers that hold the glass and cells together. The separation involves the removal of glass layers, often adhering to silicon materials. Applications of reused solar glass, 4. As glass accounts for 75% of the weight of a panel, its recovery is an important step in the recycling process. Current methods, such as mechanical. UNSW SMaRT Centre researchers have had published a study revealing a novel method to separate glass layering in waste solar panels.