A Multidisciplinary Review of Recycling Methods for End-of-Life Wind Turbine Blades

Ebbe Bagge Paulsen; Peter Enevoldsen

doi:10.3390/en14144247

journal article Open Access Jul 14, 2021

A Multidisciplinary Review of Recycling Methods for End-of-Life Wind Turbine Blades

Ebbe Bagge Paulsen Peter Enevoldsen

Energies Vol. 14 No. 14 pp. 4247 · MDPI AG

View at Publisher Save 10.3390/en14144247

Abstract

Wind energy has seen an increase of almost 500 GW of installed wind power over the past decade. Renewable energy technologies have, over the years, been striving to develop in relation to capacity and size and, simultaneously, though with less focus on, the consequences and challenges that arise when the products achieve end-of-life (EoL). The lack of knowledge and possibilities for the recycling of fiber composites and, thus, the handling of EoL wind turbine blades (WTBs) has created great environmental frustrations. At present, the frustrations surrounding the handling are based on the fact that the most commonly used disposal method is via landfills. No recycling or energy/material recovery is achieved here, making it the least advantageous solution seen from the European Waste Commission’s perspective. The purpose of this research was thus to investigate the current recycling methods and to categorize them based on the waste materials. The opportunities were compared based on processing capacity, price, environment and technology readiness level (TRL), which concluded that recycling through co-processing in the cement industry is the only economical option at present that, at the same time, has the capabilities to handle large amounts of waste materials.

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Citations

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References

Details

Published: Jul 14, 2021
Vol/Issue: 14(14)
Pages: 4247
License: View

Authors

E

Ebbe Bagge Paulsen

Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy, Borupvej 16, 7330 Brande, Denmark

P

Peter Enevoldsen

Center for Energy Technologies, Department of Business Development and Technology, Aarhus University, BTECH Aarhus BSS Aarhus University, Birk Centerpark 15, 7400 Herning, Denmark

Cite This Article

Ebbe Bagge Paulsen, Peter Enevoldsen (2021). A Multidisciplinary Review of Recycling Methods for End-of-Life Wind Turbine Blades. Energies, 14(14), 4247. https://doi.org/10.3390/en14144247

A Multidisciplinary Review of Recycling Methods for End-of-Life Wind Turbine Blades

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