Glass Fibers Produced With Recovered Glass Fibers From Wind Turbine Blades—Recycling Value Chain and Properties of Glass Fibers and Composites

ABSTRACT Recycling wind turbine blades poses significant challenges due to their composition. Blades are primarily made of fiber‐reinforced composites with a thermoset polymer, and about 60% of their mass consists of glass fibers. After recycling, recovered glass fibers typically exhibit poor properties, making them difficult to repurpose. This study explores the feasibility of remelting recovered glass fibers to produce new high‐performance glass fibers. Specifically, it investigates the potential of preparing a powder from recovered glass fibers and incorporating it into the production of new glass fibers. A large‐scale experiment was conducted, using glass fibers recovered from wind turbine blades at a concentration of 1.96 wt% to produce new high‐performance glass fibers. In total, 76 tons of glass fibers were produced, with properties comparable to those made from virgin materials. The study also examines the properties of composites manufactured with these new fibers and their potential application in new wind turbine blades. To date, no other studies have reported large‐scale experimental trials on remelting recovered glass fibers from end‐of‐life wind turbine blades to produce new glass fibers for manufacturing new wind turbine blades.