Dr Rong Deng
Rong Deng is a Lecturer at the School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering, University of New South Wales. She completed her PhD on "End-of-life Recycling of Silicon Photovoltaic Modules: Towards A Circular Economy" in 2021, and she obtained the Bachelor of Engineering (Honours Class I) in 2018 at UNSW. Her research focuses on sustainable end-life-life management of silicon photovoltaic modules, from both a technological and economic perspective. Her paper "A techno-economic review of silicon photovoltaic module recycling" received high praises from leading experts in this field, and have been recognised as a "PV Recycling textbook" among the industry.
Her research interests include:
- End-of-life management of photovoltaics panels
- End-markets for recycled module materials
- PV sustainability
- Large PV modules
- Publications
- Media
- Grants
- Awards
- Research Activities
- Engagement
- Teaching and Supervision
ACAP collaboration project with Neoen "Scoping study: Solar panel end-of-life management in Australia". $160,000.
ACAP collaboration project with Solarcycle "Techno-economic assessment of CdTe panel recycling". $40,000.
NSW EPA "Scipher Advanced Solar Panel Recycling", $1,790,000.
EUCD Climate Dialogue "PV Circularity in Australia",€145,000.
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Forbes 30 under 30 Asia List - Healthcare & Science, 2022.
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"Women in Engineering" UNSW Engineering Excellence Awards 2023
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Australia Global Talent, Department of Home Affairs, 2020.
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1st Runner up of SPREE Three Minute Thesis Competition entitled “Towards a photovoltaic circular economy”, 2021, Sydney, Australia.
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Best Oral Presentation Award entitled "Comparative Economic Assessment of Silicon Photovoltaic Module Recycling", GPVC 2019, Mar 14th, Gwangju, Korea.
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Best Poster Presentation Award entitled "A Simple Method for rapid recycling of silver from decommissioned silicon photovoltaics.", 36th EUPVSEC, Sep 9-13th, 2019, Marseille, France.
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Best Poster award entitled “Recovering 15 billion from the Waste: Closed-loop Recycling of End-of-Life Silicon Photovoltaic Modules.” UNSW Engineering PG Symposium, Dec 9-10th, 2019, Sydney, Australia
Selected publications:
Deng, R., Tan, V., Niu, C. and Egan, R., 2023. Scoping Study: Solar Panel End-of-life Management in Australia.
Deng, R., Chang, N.L., Ouyang, Z. and Chong, C.M., 2019. A techno-economic review of silicon photovoltaic module recycling.Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews,109, pp.532-550.
Deng, R., Chang, N., Lunardi, M.M., Dias, P., Bilbao, J., Ji, J. and Chong, C.M., 2021. Remanufacturing end‐of‐life silicon photovoltaics: Feasibility and viability analysis.Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications,29(7), pp.760-774.
Deng, R., Chang, N.L., Green, M., 2021. Studying Behavior Boosts Recycling. Nature Energy, News and Views, volume 6, pp862-863.
Deng, R., Dias, P., Lunardi, M.M., Ji, J., 2021. Sustainable chemical process to recycle end-of-life solar cells. Green Chemistry, 23(24), pp.10157-10167.
Tan, V., Dias, P. R., Chang, N., Deng, R. (2022). Estimating the Lifetime of Solar Photovoltaic Modules in Australia.Sustainability,14(9), 5336.
Lunardi, M.M., Dias, P.R., Deng, R. and Corkish, R., 2021. Life Cycle Environmental Assessment of Different Solar Photovoltaic Technologies.
My Research Supervision
Verity Tan: Solar Photovoltaic Waste and Resource Potential Projects in Australia (finished in 2022)
Olivia Bowen: Experimental comparison between mechanical and chemical recycling processes for solar panels (finished in 2023)
Hugh Wallace: Qualitative assessment of current attitudes and practices in the Australian Solar Industry towards PV system end-of-life management.
My Teaching
SOLA5051 Life Cycle assessment course convenor.