Descrizione del progetto
Riciclare le vecchie pale delle turbine eoliche
La rapida crescita nella produzione di energia eolica avrà come risultato finale decine di migliaia di tonnellate di detriti di pale. Ecco perché è importante riciclare le pale delle turbine eoliche. In questo contesto, il progetto REFRESH, finanziato dall’UE, svilupperà e dimostrerà un sistema circolare e intelligente per un riciclaggio migliore (almeno il 90 %) dei compositi rinforzati con fibra di vetro che provengono dallo smantellamento o dal reblading delle turbine eoliche. Concentrandosi sul trattamento meccanico e termico dei rifiuti, coinvolgerà al contempo l’intera catena del valore circolare inversa: dalle pale a fine vita fino a un’ampia gamma di prodotti rifabbricati. Nel complesso, il progetto aumenterà la consapevolezza nelle comunità di parti interessate in tutta Europa.
Obiettivo
REFRESH aims to develop and demonstrate a novel circular, smart system for an improved recycling (>90%) of glass fiber-reinforced composites derived from wind turbine dismantling or reblading, with high purity level. The project will focus on the mechanical and thermal treatment of waste, but it will strongly involve the entire reverse circular value chain: from end-of-life blades to a wide range of re-manufactured products.
REFRESH proposes a flexible re-manufacturing line: when a wind-blade is decommissioned, it will be performed a selection of optimal recycling process according to the technical condition of the blade and current market demand; this will be achieved by using a dedicated tracking tool for collecting, protecting and sharing information and an embedded decision-making tool software for selecting time by time the most sustainable approach to recycling.
The project will focus on the most robust and mature mechanical treatments, where composites are grinded in various size and used as new raw material to create multifunctional panels for automotive, marine applications, home furniture, civil construction. The project will design and deploy an up-scaled process, starting from the already available remanufacturing line of GEES Recycling (Aviano, Italy). Another robust and proven process is the thermal technology, here proposed by Gjenkraft, that allow also to recover long and “clean” fibers, without matrix, having properties comparable with the one of virgin fibers. The holistic approach developed within the project will be validated by means of LCA/LCC/health-safety analysis. The project will finally contribute to the increase of awareness among stakeholder communities through direct engagement, aimed at replicating the solution in Europe and guarantee a capillary presence of treatment plants.
The novel REFRESH approach will allow potential savings of virgin raw materials of 22 and 52 Mton after 5 and 8 years from project end respectively.
Campo scientifico
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringwaste managementwaste treatment processesrecycling
- engineering and technologymaterials engineeringfibers
- engineering and technologymaterials engineeringcomposites
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringwaste managementwaste treatment processesremanufacturing
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringenergy and fuelsrenewable energywind power
Parole chiave
Programma(i)
Meccanismo di finanziamento
HORIZON-IA - HORIZON Innovation ActionsCoordinatore
16129 Genova
Italia