Wind turbine blades End of Life through Open HUBs for circular materials in sustainable business models

Project Information

EoLO-HUBs

Grant agreement ID: 101096425

DOI

10.3030/101096425

EC signature date 9 December 2022

Start date 1 January 2023

End date 31 December 2026

Funded under

• Climate, Energy and Mobility

Total cost

€ 12 093 768,99

EU contribution

€ 9 994 682,38

Coordinated by

FUNDACION AITIIP
Spain

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - EoLO-HUBs (Wind turbine blades End of Life through Open HUBs for circular materials in sustainable business models)

Reporting period: 2023-01-01 to 2024-06-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Europe is a global leader in wind energy, but the increasing number of end-of-life wind turbines poses a recycling challenge. These turbines are composed of various materials, primarily fiberglass, which is difficult to recycle due to its composite nature. Most end-of-life wind turbine materials are currently landfilled or incinerated, leading to environmental concerns.

EoLo HUBs project aims at demonstrating a novel cluster-based approach for the actual implementation of sustainable business models around the dismantling and recycling of end-of-life wind turbine blades (WTB). The project will demonstrate and validate a set of innovative composite material recycling technologies which will provide answer to the three main areas involved in the EoL wind farms recycling(general objectives):
1. Decommissioning and pretreatment of WTB including: handling, NDT inspection, cutting, shredding, and sorting
2. Sustainable fibre reclamation processes addressing two alternative routes: Low carbon pyrolysis and green chemistry solvolysis and
3. Upgrading processes for the recovered fibres addressing Glass fibres (mainly) as well as carbon fibres. Furthermore, a knowledge hub will be set up by means of a digital platform providing athe circular economy framework to enable the replication of the project approach for WTB recycling (i.e decision support tool to guide the new developments, cost-benefit analysis) and the realisation of the business agreements (i.e. providing accurate data of the raw material through the material passport).

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The EoLo HUBs project has made significant progress in its first 18 months. The knowledge hub, including a digital platform, has been released. The project's Advisory Board has been established and has held its first meeting. Communication and dissemination activities have been initiated, including the creation of a project website.

Technical advancements have also been made, with the completion of tools and technologies for decommissioning and progress in recycling technology development. Pilot demonstrations are being prepared in two regions, Northern Hub and Southern Hub.

The project coordinator has been overseeing project activities, ensuring timely delivery of deliverables and maintaining communication with the European Commission. Overall, the project is on track and has achieved key milestones.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Scientific and technological achievements during the first months were limited due to the fact that the development of such solutions in the beginning of the project is intended to be preliminary/trials as per the project planning. After M10, with many preparation tasks complete, technical and socio-economical work packages started producing results, resulting in a variety of technologies developed and many research findings on the WTB lifecycle and the related value chain and business models.

-WTB flow diagram completed
-Preliminary database of circularity indicators
-Preliminary characterisation of a benchmark WTB decommissioning and management business case in The Netherlands and Spain
-Preliminary assessment of the circularity and sustainability performance of the EoLO-HUBs innovations compared to benchmark solutions
-Development of an integrated circularity and sustainability assessment method
-First version of Decision-Making Framework for circular wind strategies with step-by-step guide and tools definition
-Comparative Analysis of Different Legislatives and Main Principles to Enhance Circular Economy
-UWiSE Decommission software released
-Definition of technical requirements and material flows among partners
-Technology development for cutting, decoating, solvolysis and pyrolysis completed
-First recipes developed reaching the requirements of the end-user while using recycled materials