Environmental\nand Economic Assessment of Wind Turbine\nBlade Recycling Approaches

Wind energy offers\na low emission source of energy while also being\namong the cheapest forms of electricity generation in the United States.\nWhile most materials in a wind turbine can be recycled at the end\nof their life, large composite blades are often treated as waste,\nleading to potential strains on regional landfills, a loss of durable\nmaterials, and forfeiture of embodied energy. Numerous approaches\nexist for recycling composite wind blades at various levels of technological\nand commercial maturity. This study uses life cycle assessment to\ncompare several promising recycling approaches as well as understand\ntrade-offs between net greenhouse gas emissions and operational costs.\nResults include considerations for processing current glass-fiber\nblades with thermoset epoxy, upcoming decommissioned blades with carbon-fiber\nspar caps, and future blades constructed with recyclable resin systems.\nThe optimal recycling processes for current glass-fiber blades are\nthose with minimal processing emissions and costs, which are necessary\nto compete with the low costs and emissions associated with virgin\nglass-fiber production. For material streams with carbon fiber, the\noptimal processes are those that recover the highest-quality fiber,\ntherefore recovering the largest possible portion of embodied emissions\nand high costs of carbon fiber. The results for recyclable resin systems\nare less certain but do reveal that these resins can reduce net greenhouse\ngas emissions and material waste from chemical recycling processes.\nThese and other results display a promising future for wind turbine\nblade recycling, including many paths to further develop recycling\ntechnologies while increasing circularity, reducing emissions, and\nlowering operating costs.