Pursuing the circularity of wind turbine blades: Thermochemical recycling by pyrolysis and recovery of valuable resources

Abstract

Wind turbine blades (WTBs) are the primary waste generated by the wind energy industry and represent one of the major challenges associated with renewable energy from a disposal perspective. Therefore, it is necessary to develop recycling processes to address this environmental issue as circular economy strategies are implemented. This work investigates the technical feasibility of a combined thermochemical process to recover high-quality glass fibers from WTBs while optimizing the composition of the liquid and gaseous fractions. For this purpose, a thermal pyrolysis process in the range of 450–500 °C was studied in a laboratory-scale fixed-bed reactor, followed by thermal cracking of the vapors between 300 and 700 °C. The fixed bed reactor in which the pyrolysis was performed was also used to study a secondary thermochemical process under oxidizing conditions in order to remove residual exogenous organic compounds from the recovered fibers (RFs). For the sake of comparison, a muffle furnace was also used in this second stage. The results indicate that high yields of RFs can be recovered (75.8–77.5 wt%) and, depending on the temperature used in the cracking reactor, either valuable gas (up to 12.9 wt%) or phenol-rich oils (in the range of 8.8–18.7 wt%) can be produced. In addition, carbonaceous compounds can be completely cleaned of RFs after an oxidation process in the same pyrolysis unit, providing a highly versatile process. As an additional advantage, it is observed that after oxidation the RFs are functionalized. This work aims at creating a resource-efficient circular economy, specifically for waste generated from end-of-life renewable energy technologies such as wind turbines.