Sustainable wind turbine blades

AI Quick Summary

Recycling solutions for wind turbine blades are becoming increasingly important. Additionally, bio-based or recycled materials could replace today’s conventional materials. A combined approach, design- and material-driven, is a first step towards more sustainable technologies for blades. We intend to start with concept development and small demonstrators, which will gradually be upscaled. As the first multi-megawatt wind turbines gradually reach the end of their service life and need to be dismantled, recycling solutions are becoming increasingly important. Wind turbine blades are a critical and costly component of a wind turbine system. They can be up to 100 m long and are mainly made of glass fiber composites, and currently the most common dismantling method is incineration. Attempts at recycling include grinding and reuse for concrete, which has proven difficult due to concerns about the quality of the recyclate, and chemical recovery by solvolysis, which retains most of the tensile strength of the fiberglass but uses harsh and hazardous chemicals and is very expensive.Some research has looked at alternative materials for wind turbine blades that are easier to recycle, such as thermoplastic matrix composites, bamboo and bio-based adhesives, PET foam, and flax. However, no suitable solution has yet been found in terms of stiffness, strength, manufacturability and cost. Together with the IET Institute for Energy Technology of OST, IWK has addressed first concepts for (small 1m) blade design based on sustainable materials and partially suited for recycling. This concept will be scaled up and optimized to provide even better sustainability already by design. On the conceptual side, integrated construction methods will enable the re-use of components or an easier disassembly. On the material side, the use of recycled plastics or bio-based materials help to reach negative emissions in a system view. We are looking for additional partners along the whole value-added chain interested in designing new types of wind turbine blades. The first steps include basic design ideas as well as the identification of new/alternative materials including LCA. Later, prototypes (1m and up to 6m) can later be tested on site at the test plants of OST.

Project Idea Metadata

Project Idea Name: Sustainable wind turbine blades
Date: 4/1/2022 5:49:58 PM
Administrators:
- Gion Barandun

Project Idea Description

As the first multi-megawatt wind turbines gradually reach the end of their service life and need to be dismantled, recycling solutions are becoming increasingly important. Wind turbine blades are a critical and costly component of a wind turbine system. They can be up to 100 m long and are mainly made of glass fiber composites, and currently the most common dismantling method is incineration. Attempts at recycling include grinding and reuse for concrete, which has proven difficult due to concerns about the quality of the recyclate, and chemical recovery by solvolysis, which retains most of the tensile strength of the fiberglass but uses harsh and hazardous chemicals and is very expensive.

Some research has looked at alternative materials for wind turbine blades that are easier to recycle, such as thermoplastic matrix composites, bamboo and bio-based adhesives, PET foam, and flax. However, no suitable solution has yet been found in terms of stiffness, strength, manufacturability and cost.

Together with the IET Institute for Energy Technology of OST, IWK has addressed first concepts for (small 1m) blade design based on sustainable materials and partially suited for recycling. This concept will be scaled up and optimized to provide even better sustainability already by design. On the conceptual side, integrated construction methods will enable the re-use of components or an easier disassembly. On the material side, the use of recycled plastics or bio-based materials help to reach negative emissions in a system view.

We are looking for additional partners along the whole value-added chain interested in designing new types of wind turbine blades. The first steps include basic design ideas as well as the identification of new/alternative materials including LCA. Later, prototypes (1m and up to 6m) can later be tested on site at the test plants of OST.