2nd Annual Wind Turbine Blades & Recycling Forum

08:40AM - 09:05AM

Ongoing Industrial Demonstration Activities of DeremCo: High-added Value Recycling of Composite Materials and their Re-use within and Beyond the Original Application Scenario

Marcello Colledani

Prodessor, Politecnico di Milano / DeremCo Project Coordinator

The presentation will provide an overview of the ongoing industrial demonstration activities of the European project DeremCo "De-and Remanufacturing for Circular Economy Investments in the Composite Industry", focusing on the high-added value recycling of composite materials and their re-use within and beyond the original application scenario. Several industry-led business cases, integrating glass-fiber reinforced plastics from wind blades into other products, will be discussed showing economic and technical viability. The DeremCo circular approach is made possible by the synergic implementation of two technological strategies focusing respectively on the (i) mechanical recycling and reprocessing of fiber-resin granules and the (ii) thermo-chemical recycling and reprocessing of fibers. This technological approach grounds on the results of the previous large-scale project FiberEUse, that will be briefly summarized, together with the current activities of the originated start-up FiberEUse Tech.

Examples of mature industrial business cases integrating recycled GFRP from wind blades.
The importance of the demand-driven circular economy approach in the recycling of composites from wind blades.
Technical implications of recycling and reprocessing stages of the circular process-chain.
Next steps and opportunities for composite-rich manufacturing industries trends.

09:05AM - 09:30AM

Revolutionizing Wind Energy: Vestas’ Journey Towards Blade Circularity

Nina Kølln Wittig

Materials Specialist in Innovation and Concepts, Vestas

Vestas’ Blade Circularity Journey: Discussing the evolution of Vestas’ approach to turbine blade design and the shift towards a circular economy.
The Power of Collaboration - the CETEC Initiative: Highlighting the advantages of bridging industry and academia to bring forward an innovative solution that will enable the recycling of blades currently in operation as well as future blades.
Future Implications: Discussing the potential of this technology to eliminate landfill disposal of decommissioned blades and its contribution to the broader circular economy.

09:30AM - 09:55AM

Circular materials in sustainable business models EoLO HUBS

Julio Vidal Navarro

Head of R&D, Department I+D+i - R&D Department, Moses productos S.L.

Approach in the European project EoLO HUBS “Wind turbine blades End-of-Life through Open HUBs for circular materials in sustainable business models”

09:55AM - 10:20AM

Circular materials in sustainable business models EoLO HUBS

Declan McGinley

Head of Operations ReWind by DNV, DNV

Approach in the European project EoLO HUBS “Wind turbine blades End-of-Life through Open HUBs for circular materials in sustainable business models”

10:20AM - 10:50AM

Coffee & Networking Break

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10:50AM - 11:40AM

Pyrolysis value-chain for decommissioned wind turbine blades with focus on “Glass fibre re-melting proof of concept” - How to make recycling actually happen?

Finding applications for recycled glass fibres – the main ingredient in WTB - remains one of the biggest challenges in recycling composites. A large-scale recycling demonstration by the DecomBlades consortium. In collaboration with 3B-Fibreglass, the consortium showcases a pyrolysis value chain aimed at recovering and remelting glass fibres into new fibres. The ambition was:

To demonstrate the feasibility of re-melting recovered glass fibre and to prove that it is possible;
To demonstrate that the glass fibre produced have the same performance as HiPerTex glass fibres made from virgin raw material;
To evaluate the environmental viability of using pyrolysis for recovering glass fibers from old wind turbine blades and substituting raw materials in the production process of high-quality glass fiber for new blades.

A Blade-to-blade circular solution was demonstrated – a solution that can off-take the quantity of EoL WTB expected in the coming years. The IEA Wind Task 45 network’s objective and aim. Key issues identified through practical experiences: the lack of robust prediction for end-of-use WTB and the absence of reliable wind turbine data.

Speakers

Irene Bach Villadsen

Group R&D | Project Manager, MAKEEN EnviroTech A/S

Justine Beauson

Research and Development Engineer, DTU Wind and Energy Systems

11:40AM - 12:05PM

Recycling strategies of fiber-reinforced composites based on vitrimers and cleavable epoxies: a case study

Florian Max

Team Lead Composites, Department of Polymer Engineering, University of Bayreuth

Recap: Problem: Massive amount of waste coming from discarded rotor-blades and recycling of composites is not sustainable due to high energy-demand
Motivation: Enhancing sustainability using cleavable epoxies and vitrimers by choice of hardener
Aim: Comparing the effects of different recycling pathways on properties of recyclate
Results: Crosslink-density and mechanical performance strongly dependent on hardener-type and recycling pathway

12:05PM - 12:30PM

Protective coatings for leading edge erosion and recycling of wind turbine blade materials

Vasileios Koutsos

Deputy Head of Research Institute, Institute for Materials and Processes, School of Engineering,, The University of Edinburgh

Leading edge erosion: the effect of solid airborne particles.
Polymer nanocomposite coatings for leading edge protection.
Recycling of epoxy-based glass and/or carbon fibre composites as leading edge protective coatings.

12:30PM - 02:00PM

Lunch

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02:00PM - 02:30PM

Recycling wind turbine blades

Recycling technologies: an overview. Future blades: promising developments.
Recycling of wind blade glass fibres and reuse in the next generation blades.
Balance between cost and high recycling rates.
Will the blades meet recycling standards when it comes to EoL and is recycling a viable option considering the region and logistics.
What options are currently available to developers who are looking to recycle or repurpose their blades.
Development of a wet-laid fibre process for producing functionally graded adhesive carrier materials.
Application of recycled wind blade fibres to address current blade manufacturing defects.
Innovative recycling of EOL WTB: materials recovering and re-use.

Panelists

David Morgan / Carbon Rivers

Julio Vidal / Moses productos S.L.

Matthew Korey / Oak Ridge National Lab / VIRTUAL

Mitchell Rencheck / Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) / VIRTUAL

Ignacio Julian / CIRCE Technology Centre Sandro Di Noi / RWE

Dr. Marta Barreras / RenerCycle

Moderator

David MORGAN

Chief Strategy Officer, Carbon Rivers

Panelists

Mitchell Rencheck

Research Engineer V, EPRI

Matthew Korey, Ph.D.

Associate R&D Staff, Oak Ridge National Laboratory