A Decommissioned Wind Blade as a Second-Life Construction Material for a Transmission Pole

Alshannaq, Ammar A.; Bank, Lawrence C.; Scott, David W.; Gentry, Russell

doi:10.3390/constrmater1020007

Cited by 11 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…The authors have tested the structural analyses for different load cases: extreme wind, concurrent ice, and wind; extreme ice, differential ice, broken conductor, and broken shield; and governing load cases for bending, shear, and torsion. The results showed that the blade pole can resist the expected loads with reasonable safety factors and that the expected deflections are within permissible limits [46].…”

Section: Upcycling Wind Turbine Bladesmentioning

confidence: 87%

Wind Turbine Blade Waste Circularity Coupled with Urban Regeneration: A Conceptual Framework

Karavida

Peponi

2023

Energies

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With the vast majority of scientists agreeing that the only hope in mitigating the adverse effects of climate change is to drop our carbon emissions to net zero by 2050, the decarbonization of the electricity sector is an environmental emergency. Wind energy can be a leader in the energy transition to a carbon emission-free economy. However, the wind energy transition must be carefully implemented to mitigate the economic, environmental, and social consequences of this change. Blade waste from end-of-life wind turbines is the Achilles’ heel of this energy transition and the main impediment to its full acceptance. Aiming to support efficient blade waste management and therefore to ensure sustainable wind energy transition, we conduct a two-fold methodology. In the first part, we propose a novel conceptual framework of upcycling and downcycling end-of-life solutions in an urban regeneration setting. In the second part, we use the case study method to illustrate the aspects of our conceptual framework by analyzing real life case studies. This study suggests that end-of-life blades are used in the cement coprocessing of waste and in architectural projects under urban regeneration transformation processes, closing the material loop according to the circular economy and sustainability principles.

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Section: Upcycling Wind Turbine Bladesmentioning

confidence: 87%

Wind Turbine Blade Waste Circularity Coupled with Urban Regeneration: A Conceptual Framework

Karavida

Peponi

2023

Energies

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“…Next on the waste hierarchy is blade repurposing, which involves the reuse of full blades or large sections of the blade in new industrial or architectural applications. Some examples of repurposing applications include pedestrian bridges (e.g., Blade Bridge along the Midleton-Youghal Greenway in County Cork, Ireland) [22,54,55], power transmission lines [56], children's playgrounds (e.g., Wikado playground, Rotterdam) [57], bicycle shelters (e.g., Aalborg Harbour) [58], affordable housing [41], among others [59]. Full blade repurposing implies that the entire blade will be reused in one or more applications and will therefore yield a 100% reuse potential.…”

Section: Recycling Technologies and Potential Materials That Can Be '...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainability Implications of Current Approaches to End-of-Life of Wind Turbine Blades—A Review

Delaney,

Leahy,

McKinley

et al. 2023

Sustainability

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In recent years, the sustainability of wind power has been called into question because there are currently no truly sustainable solutions to the problem of how to deal with the non-biodegradable fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) composite wind blades (sometimes referred to as “wings”) that capture the wind energy. The vast majority of wind blades that have reached their end-of-life (EOL) currently end up in landfills (either in full-sized pieces or pulverized into smaller pieces) or are incinerated. The problem has come to a head in recent years since many countries (especially in the EU) have outlawed, or expect to outlaw in the near future, one or both of these unsustainable and polluting disposal methods. An increasing number of studies have addressed the issue of EOL blade “waste”; however, these studies are generally of little use since they make predictions that do not account for the manner in which wind blades are decommissioned (from the time the decision is made to retire a turbine (or a wind farm) to the eventual disposal or recycling of all of its components). This review attempts to lay the groundwork for a better understanding of the decommissioning process by defining how the different EOL solutions to the problem of the blade “waste” do or do not lead to “sustainable decommissioning”. The hope is that by better defining the different EOL solutions and their decommissioning pathways, a more rigorous research base for future studies of the wind blade EOL problem will be possible. This paper reviews the prior studies on wind blade EOL and divides them into a number of categories depending on the focus that the original authors chose for their EOL assessment. This paper also reviews the different methods chosen by researchers to predict the quantities of future blade waste and shows that depending on the choice of method, predictions can be different by orders of magnitude, which is not good as this can be exploited by unscrupulous parties. The paper then reviews what different researchers define as the “recycling” of wind blades and shows that depending on the definition, the percentage of how much material is actually recycled is vastly different, which is also not good and can be exploited by unscrupulous parties. Finally, using very recent proprietary data (December 2022), the paper illustrates how the different definitions and methods affect predictions on global EOL quantities and recycling rates.

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“…Repurposing these blades to new structural applications minimises the waste in a landfill [95]. Wind turbine blades are also proposed to be used in electric transmission towers [93,94,96], as seen in Figure 5. Wind turbine blades have also been employed in secondary applications, such as playgrounds and bus shelters in The Netherlands [97].…”

Section: Reuse or Repurposementioning

confidence: 99%

A Review of Recycling Methods for Fibre Reinforced Polymer Composites

Qureshi

2022

Sustainability

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This paper presents a review of waste disposal methods for fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) materials. The methods range from waste minimisation, repurposing, reusing, recycling, incineration, and co-processing in a cement plant to dumping in a landfill. Their strength, limitations, and key points of attention are discussed. Both glass and carbon fibre reinforced polymer (GFRP and CFRP) waste management strategies are critically reviewed. The energy demand and cost of FRP waste disposal routes are also discussed. Landfill and co-incineration are the most common and cheapest techniques to discard FRP scrap. Three main recycling pathways, including mechanical, thermal, and chemical recycling, are reviewed. Chemical recycling is the most energy-intensive and costly route. Mechanical recycling is only suitable for GFRP waste, and it has actually been used at an industrial scale by GFRP manufacturers. Chemical and thermal recycling routes are more appropriate for reclaiming carbon fibres from CFRP, where the value of reclaimed fibres is more than the cost of the recycling process. Discarding FRP waste in a sustainable manner presents a major challenge in a circular economy. With strict legislation on landfill and other environmental limits, recycling, reusing, and repurposing FRP composites will be at the forefront of sustainable waste-management strategies in the future.

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A Decommissioned Wind Blade as a Second-Life Construction Material for a Transmission Pole

Cited by 11 publications

References 18 publications

Wind Turbine Blade Waste Circularity Coupled with Urban Regeneration: A Conceptual Framework

Wind Turbine Blade Waste Circularity Coupled with Urban Regeneration: A Conceptual Framework

Sustainability Implications of Current Approaches to End-of-Life of Wind Turbine Blades—A Review

A Review of Recycling Methods for Fibre Reinforced Polymer Composites

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