Recycled Wind Turbine Blades Turned into Asphalt for New Roads

Wind turbines provide an excellent source of clean energy, but disposing of them when they are decommissioned presents a major challenge. Researchers in China have discovered a practical method to recycle discarded turbine blades, using them to create durable roads. This technique could be particularly useful as the number of wind turbines grows and more of them reach the end of their service life.

The Difficulty of Recycling Wind Turbine Blades

While many components of old wind turbines, such as the shell, nacelle, and internal metal parts, can be recycled or reused, manufacturers often make the large blades from fiberglass. This is especially true for the blades that they are retiring today, after decades of use.

In 2023, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Denver, Colorado, estimated that the U.S. would decommission between 3,000 and 9,000 turbine blades annually for the next five years.They expect this number to rise to between 10,000 and 20,000 per year by 2040.

Considering the scale of this issue in Europe and China, which have the largest wind turbine fleets globally, the challenge becomes even more pressing. For example, the largest wind turbine ever built, a 26-MW model under construction in China by Dongfang, features blades with a diameter of over 1,100 feet (310 meters).

The Need for Sustainable Solutions as Wind Farms Expand

As turbines and wind farms—both onshore and offshore—continue to expand, the need for solutions to manage decommissioned blades will grow. The properties that make these blades lightweight, durable, and weather-resistant also make them difficult to recycle.

The researchers from the Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences developed a method to break down and chemically process the blades, allowing them to be incorporated into asphalt and cement mixtures for road construction.

In 2024, the team successfully tested the process with a construction company. After laying a section of the Qingfu Highway in Lanzhou, five months later, the road showed no signs of cracks or rutting.

Other Innovative Ways to Recycle Wind Turbine Blades

This breakthrough expands the growing list of ways to use recycled blades. For example:

• Global Fiberglass Solutions in Kirkland, Washington, converts the blades into reinforced plastic pellets for products like maintenance hole covers.

• Veolia, a waste management company, shreds the blades and uses them as a substitute for coal, sand, and clay in cement production.

• Carbon Rivers in Knoxville, Tennessee, recovers strong fibers from the blades through pyrolysis and uses them to create heavy-duty automotive parts.

In addition, efforts are underway to make the blades themselves easier to recycle or dispose of. These include the development of dissolvable resins for manufacturing the blades, recyclable thermoplastics, and cost-effective methods for breaking down epoxy-based blades.

Despite these innovations, the issue of disposing of turbine blades remains a growing challenge. The Lanzhou research team plans to continue its work, aiming to refine and scale its recycling method to handle the increasing volume of discarded blades in the coming decades.

Read the original article on: New Atlas

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