14 - Recycling and reusing of hybrid composite materials

Abstract

Composite materials are widely used in various applications such as renewable energy, automotive industries, and aerospace. However, considering the heterogenic nature of thermoset-based polymer composites, they are not recycled properly. At present and in the future, the environmental and management legislations need to recover and recycle engineering materials from the end-of-life products like wind turbines, aircraft, and automobiles. There will be energy and resource savings due to the recycling procedure. Recycling will eventually result in resource and energy savings. Mechanical, chemical, and thermal recycling are three technologies that have been invented, yet they need to be commercialized. However, the critical commercialization challenges include increased recycling costs, inferior recyclate quality, and a lack of appropriate markets. To boost composite recycling, extensive R&D is required to develop groundbreaking and improved recycling methods for composite and considerably more effective separation methods. The recycling strategies that have been implemented for polymer composites have two main benefits. Recycling processes can reduce the consumption of waste plastic composites. Second, the amount of energy needed to recycle plastic composite materials is relatively low compared to the energy needed for standard production methods. Plastics and their composite materials have recently benefited from the introduction of particular novel recycling and reuse practices. It is anticipated that new methods for separating and recycling composite materials will be available in the future due to collaborative efforts from designers, producers, and readily recyclable composite materials.