Control the System and Environment of Post-Production Wind Turbine Blade Waste Using Life Cycle Models. Part 1. Environmental Transformation Models

Abstract

Controlling the system—the environment of power plants is called such a transformation—their material, energy and information inputs in time, which will ensure that the purpose of the operation of this system or the state of the environment, is achieved. The transformations of systems and environmental inputs and their goals describe the different models, e.g., LCA model groups and methods. When converting wind kinetic energy into electricity, wind power plants emit literally no harmful substances into the environment. However, the production and postuse management stages of their components require large amounts of energy and materials. The biggest controlling problem during postuse management is wind power plant blades, followed by waste generated during their production. Therefore, this publication is aimed at carrying out an ecological, technical and energetical transformation analysis of selected postproduction waste of wind power plant blades based on the LCA models and methods. The research object of control was eight different types of postproduction waste (fiberglass mat, roving fabric, resin discs, distribution hoses, spiral hoses with resin, vacuum bag film, infusion materials residues, surplus mater), mainly made of polymer materials, making it difficult for postuse management and dangerous for the environment. Three groups of models and methods were used: Eco-indicator 99, IPCC and CED. The impact of analysis objects on human health, ecosystem quality and resources was controlled and assessed. Of all the tested waste, the life cycle of resin discs made of epoxy resin was characterized by the highest level of harmful technology impact on the environment and the highest energy consumption. Postuse control and management in the form of recycling would reduce the negative impact on the environment of the tested waste (in the perspective of their entire life cycle). Based on the results obtained, guidelines and models for the proecological postuse control of postproduction polymer waste of wind power plants blades were proposed.

Manufacturing and Recycling Impact on Environmental Life Cycle Assessment of Innovative Wind Power Plant Part 2/2

“…Its concentration varies seasonally and with latitude (changes can also be observed locally, especially near the Earth’s surface). The use of recycling as a form of post-consumer management in the manufacture of elements for the construction of a wind power plant reduces the harmful effects of compounds causing climate change, and carbon dioxide in particular, in a life-cycle perspective [ 29 , 46 ]. Recycling allows to reduce the level of potential impact on human health of emissions of climate change compounds for the tower by (61.12 Pt/1 p).…”

“…It enabled the assessment of the impact of processes occurring in the life cycle of a wind power plant in three areas of influence: human health, ecosystem quality, and resources. The fourth and, at the same time, last stage (Section 2.5), included interpretation of the obtained results which are presented in Sections 3.1, 3.2, and 4 [27][28][29]. The LCA-life cycle assessment-was adopted as the main method for assessing potential environmental impacts.…”

Manufacturing and Recycling Impact on Environmental Life Cycle Assessment of Innovative Wind Power Plant Part 1/2

“…The use of one kilogram of a given resource is associated, on the one hand, with a reduction in its quality and, on the other, with an increase in the effort to extract it (surplus energy). In Eco-indicator 99, two impact categories are expressed in MJ surplus energy: minerals and fossil fuels [ 46 , 47 ].…”

The Development of Efficient Contaminated Polymer Materials Shredding in Recycling Processes

“…Only the scale of the process shows the great importance of shredding. It should be emphasized that, for some elements, shredding is a necessary stage in EoL management processes, e.g., in mechanical recycling of car tires [ 25 , 87 , 88 , 89 ], recycling of photovoltaic modules [ 17 , 18 ], recycling of wind power blades [ 16 , 90 , 91 ], or car recycling [ 92 , 93 , 94 ], where shredding is used to reduce the size and separate the individual materials that make up the elements, so the estimated amount of shredded waste can be much higher. According to the data published in [ 81 ], up to 100% of polymer materials are shredded for recycling, which significantly increases the share (up to 41.7%) of end-of-life materials that need to be shredded.…”