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Title: Recycling Glass Fiber Thermoplastic Composites from Wind Turbine Blades

Abstract

We report that thermoplastic resin systems have long been discussed for use in large-scale composite parts but have yet to be exploited by the energy industry. The use of these resins versus their thermosetting counterparts can potentially introduce cost savings due to non-heated tooling, shorter manufacturing cycle times, and recovery of raw materials from the retired part. Because composite parts have high embedded energy, recovery of their constituent materials can provide substantial economic benefit. This study determines the feasibility of recycling composite wind turbine blade components that are fabricated with glass fiber reinforced Elium (R) thermoplastic resin. Several experiments are conducted to tabulate important material properties that are relevant to recycling, including thermal degradation, grinding, and dissolution of the polymer matrix to recover the constituent materials. Dissolution, which is a process unique to thermoplastic matrices, allows recovery of both the polymer matrix and full-length glass fibers, which maintain their stiffness (190 N/(mm g)) and strength (160 N/g) through the recovery process. Injection molded regrind material is stiffer (12 GPa compared to 10 GPa) and stronger (150 MPa compared to 84 MPa) than virgin material that had shorter fibers. An economic analysis of the technical data shows that recycling thermoplastic-glass fibermore » composites via dissolution into their constituent parts is commercially feasible under certain conditions. This analysis concludes that 50% of the glass fiber must be recovered and resold for a price of $0.28/kg. Furthermore, 90% of the resin must be recovered and resold at a price of $2.50/kg.« less

Authors:
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [1];  [2]
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  1. Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO (United States)
  2. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation (IACMI)
OSTI Identifier:
1485554
Report Number(s):
NREL/JA-5000-72929
Journal ID: ISSN 0959-6526
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC36-08GO28308; EE006926
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Journal of Cleaner Production
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 209; Journal Issue: C; Journal ID: ISSN 0959-6526
Publisher:
Elsevier
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
17 WIND ENERGY; 42 ENGINEERING; thermoplastic; recycling; composite; wind turbine blade; dissolution

Citation Formats

Cousins, Dylan S., Suzuki, Yasuhito, Murray, Robynne E., Samaniuk, Joseph R., and Stebner, Aaron P. Recycling Glass Fiber Thermoplastic Composites from Wind Turbine Blades. United States: N. p., 2018. Web. doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.10.286.
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Cousins, Dylan S., Suzuki, Yasuhito, Murray, Robynne E., Samaniuk, Joseph R., & Stebner, Aaron P. Recycling Glass Fiber Thermoplastic Composites from Wind Turbine Blades. United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.10.286
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Cousins, Dylan S., Suzuki, Yasuhito, Murray, Robynne E., Samaniuk, Joseph R., and Stebner, Aaron P. Sun . "Recycling Glass Fiber Thermoplastic Composites from Wind Turbine Blades". United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.10.286. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1485554.
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@article{osti_1485554,
title = {Recycling Glass Fiber Thermoplastic Composites from Wind Turbine Blades},
author = {Cousins, Dylan S. and Suzuki, Yasuhito and Murray, Robynne E. and Samaniuk, Joseph R. and Stebner, Aaron P.},
abstractNote = {We report that thermoplastic resin systems have long been discussed for use in large-scale composite parts but have yet to be exploited by the energy industry. The use of these resins versus their thermosetting counterparts can potentially introduce cost savings due to non-heated tooling, shorter manufacturing cycle times, and recovery of raw materials from the retired part. Because composite parts have high embedded energy, recovery of their constituent materials can provide substantial economic benefit. This study determines the feasibility of recycling composite wind turbine blade components that are fabricated with glass fiber reinforced Elium (R) thermoplastic resin. Several experiments are conducted to tabulate important material properties that are relevant to recycling, including thermal degradation, grinding, and dissolution of the polymer matrix to recover the constituent materials. Dissolution, which is a process unique to thermoplastic matrices, allows recovery of both the polymer matrix and full-length glass fibers, which maintain their stiffness (190 N/(mm g)) and strength (160 N/g) through the recovery process. Injection molded regrind material is stiffer (12 GPa compared to 10 GPa) and stronger (150 MPa compared to 84 MPa) than virgin material that had shorter fibers. An economic analysis of the technical data shows that recycling thermoplastic-glass fiber composites via dissolution into their constituent parts is commercially feasible under certain conditions. This analysis concludes that 50% of the glass fiber must be recovered and resold for a price of $0.28/kg. Furthermore, 90% of the resin must be recovered and resold at a price of $2.50/kg.},
doi = {10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.10.286},
journal = {Journal of Cleaner Production},
number = C,
volume = 209,
place = {United States},
year = {Sun Oct 28 00:00:00 EDT 2018},
month = {Sun Oct 28 00:00:00 EDT 2018}
}
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Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.10.286
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Cited by: 120 works
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Figures / Tables:

Table 1 Table 1: Primary energy costs for various recycling methods for acrylic-based composites.
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    Works referencing / citing this record:

    Recycled Glass Fiber Composites from Wind Turbine Waste for 3D Printing Feedstock: Effects of Fiber Content and Interface on Mechanical Performance
    journal, November 2019

    • Rahimizadeh, Amirmohammad; Kalman, Jordan; Henri, Rodolphe
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    Pultrusion of Bendable Continuous Fibers Reinforced Composites With Reactive Acrylic Thermoplastic ELIUM® Resin
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    • Patel, Kishan; Gupta, Rishi; Garg, Mohit
    • Advances in Materials Science and Engineering, Vol. 2019
    • DOI: 10.1155/2019/4149708

    Recycled Glass Fiber Composites from Wind Turbine Waste for 3D Printing Feedstock: Effects of Fiber Content and Interface on Mechanical Performance
    journal, November 2019

    • Rahimizadeh, Amirmohammad; Kalman, Jordan; Henri, Rodolphe
    • Materials, Vol. 12, Issue 23
    • DOI: 10.3390/ma12233929
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