Proposed holistic strategy for mechanical recycling of wind turbine blades for 3D printing and compression molding

Abstract

There are many solutions being proposed for recycling discarded wind turbine blades, but most solutions are not very ecological, involving either burning or harsh chemicals. In this research, a solution is proposed that has a very low environmental impact and has potential of being scaled to a very large industrial process. The entire wind turbine blade should be recycled and transformed into other products that are recycled and that have economic benefits in the long term. Two of the output products from the current recycling strategy are recycled 3D printing filament and recycled reinforced pellets for compression molding. The research outlines the process, the numerical simulations that help optimize the output and the outline for planning to bring the recycling solution from a small industrial scale to a large scale. This represents ongoing research in this important field of composite recycling.