Wind turbines are mainly made of thermoset composites including various materials, such as wood, metals, adhesives and coatings. The recycling of the End-of-Life (EoL) composite is difficult due to the heterogeneous nature of the fibre-reinforced polymers and the strong adhesion between the fibres and the polymer matrix. This often leads to a "downgrading" effect, where the recycled material is only suitable for low-quality applications. As a result, most of this waste is currently either landfilled or incinerated. To prevent this, new technology must be created or adapted to reuse or recycle the valuable materials from a wind rotor blade as efficiently as possible.
Therefore, the EoLO-HUBs project addresses and advances the following areas of development:
- Innovative process to optimize wind turbine blade disassembly, including advanced software and tools that will facilitate the identification and separation of the different components of the blade when it comes to be treated.
- Further development of two sustainable fiber matrix separation methods: low carbon pyrolysis and green chemistry solvolysis, for the recovery of glass and carbon fibers.
- Cutting-edge treatment processes: Improvement of the properties of recovered fibers to enable them to be used as new raw materials in a second life cycle in the automotive, construction and wind energy sectors.
In addition, a digital platform will be created to facilitate effective knowledge exchange among the hubs involved in the EoLO project. Two of these hubs will integrate the entire process of decommissioning, recycling, and recovery of wind farms in two separate value chains. The third hub will connect the progress of the EoLO-HUBs with both society and industry. Furthermore, this platform will serve as a space to formalize business agreements based on the principles of the circular economy, which will aid in replicating the EoLO model beyond the pilot phase.