Vestas develops blade recycling process

[dan_b]

https://www.offshorewind.biz/2023/02/08 ... ecyclable/

New chemical process should make all existing wind turbine blades suitable for recycling rather than land-fill.

[Moxi]

This is huge!

Not only does it close a big environmental issue for turbine blades but it addresses a massive GRP industry problem that has plagued disposal for decades.

This could be a game changer across many sectors.

Moxi

[Mr Gus]

Great news thats been floating around a while, will take years to find out how viable it is across the board (various manufacturers) unless its a collaboration & each turbine manuf process is being lab sampled.

Won't shut the whiners & neersayers up, will be another thing to shut some "mouths" down though. ...how toxic is the process I wonder, hopefully dino-juice free!

[Moxi]

It looks like they have found a way to break the resin bonds, presumably with a strong solvent, followed by solvent extraction and resin re-processing then recombination with the previously mechanically stripped glass fibres which undergo their own, already existing, reprocessing to produce new chopped fibre matting etc:

From CETEC's pages

Developed by DreamWind, an innovation initiative driven by the same partners, the new technology consists of a two-step process. Firstly, thermoset composites are disassembled into fibre and epoxy. Secondly, through a novel chemcycling process, the epoxy is further broken up into base components similar to virgin materials. These materials can then be reintroduced into the manufacturing of new turbine blades, constituting a new circularity pathway for epoxy resin.

Looks a very neat solution

Moxi

[Mr Gus]

& there was I hoping it was some newly laboratory "va-voomed" beneficial algae ..no such luck.

The whole fibre glass process is a very stinky one.

[Swwils]

If we launch turbines into the sun technically some energy will be recovered by plants back here on earth. Does this count as a new turbine recovery cycle?

[Mr Gus]

About as much as an ICE induced pollution cloud holds back the "damaging rays of the sun" ..hey that really is the definition of fossil "friendly" right!?

[Moxi]

In fairness to the resin manufacturers and the GRP industry they spend a lot on minimising the evaporation of solvent to atmosphere as its too darned expensive to waste and replace, there is a degree of evaporation required at the curing stage but even this is now controlled and managed.

In terms of what was the norm of landfilling it before versus the opportunity in future to recycle then this is only good news.

Moxi

[Sunrisemike]

I would of thought you would get a useful product if you put them through a chipper. Good road surfacing material etc.