The EU is committed to becoming the global leader in renewables. Wind power has played an important part in this success and will be key to achieve the EU’s renewable energy targets and make the EU carbon-neutral by 2050. Wind is a clean and reliable energy source for power generation. However, there is a side of the technology that needs a different approach, to guarantee a full sustainability to wind technology. As a consequence of the dismission of parks older than 20-25 years, WT blades waste is increasing, and existing solutions are not yet widely available or cost-competitive.
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, 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 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 home furniture, civil construction, industrial applications. 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 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.
