A Comparative Life Cycle Assessment between landfilling and Co-Processing of waste from decommissioned Irish wind turbine blades

Nagle, Angela; Delaney, Emma L.; Bank, Lawrence C.; Leahy, Paul

doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.123321

Cited by 86 publications

(50 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…In cement co-processing, coarse-ground turbine blade material is used to replace a portion of the sand and gravel input and solid fuel (coal) used to produce clinker, which is a key component in cement (Coughlin et al, 2020). Cement co-processing has been implemented at a commercial scale in Europe (Nagle et al, 2020) and, in 2020, General Electric and Veolia announced a cement co-processing blade recycling program in the United States (Gheorghiu, 2020). It requires minimal to no adjustments to existing cement kiln technology, and has a significant capacity for absorbing blade materials (Coughlin et al, 2020) because of the consistently high demand for cement in the United States (Hatfield and Williams, 2020).…”

Section: Figure 4 |mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Figure 6 shows a similar diagram for cement and concrete production, which was modeled as one combined process with data taken from the analogous processes in the U.S. LCI. When GFRP is recycled to clinker for cement co-processing, it replaces a portion of the coal and sand and gravel inputs to the cement production (Nagle et al, 2020). This results in lower process-level CO 2 emissions for cement production and a small reduction in life cycle impacts due to decreased use of coal (Coughlin et al, 2020).…”

Section: Figure 4 |mentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Circular Economy Lifecycle Assessment and Visualization Framework: A Case Study of Wind Blade Circularity in Texas

et al. 2021

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Moving the current linear economy toward circularity is expected to have environmental, economic, and social impacts. Various modeling methods, including economic input-output modeling, life cycle assessment, agent-based modeling, and system dynamics, have been used to examine circular supply chains and analyze their impacts. This work describes the newly developed Circular Economy Lifecycle Assessment and Visualization (CELAVI) framework, which is designed to model how the impacts of supply chains might change as circularity increases. We first establish the framework with a discussion of modeling capabilities that are needed to capture circularity transitions; these capabilities are based on the fact that supply chains moving toward circularity are dynamic and therefore not at steady state, may encompass multiple industrial sectors or other interdependent supply chains and occupy a large spatial area. To demonstrate the capabilities of CELAVI, we present a case study on end-of-life wind turbine blades in the U.S. state of Texas. Our findings show that depending on exact process costs and transportation distances, mechanical recycling could lead to 69% or more of end-of-life turbine blade mass being kept in circulation rather than being landfilled, with only a 7.1% increase in global warming potential over the linear supply chain. We discuss next steps for framework development.

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Section: Figure 4 |mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Figure 4 |mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Circular Economy Lifecycle Assessment and Visualization Framework: A Case Study of Wind Blade Circularity in Texas

et al. 2021

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“…(+) Efficiente, basso costo e di applicazione commerciale. (-) Massimo potenziale non sfruttato, forma fisica originale delle fibre persa e matrice incinerata 34,35 2. Mechanical grinding: processo meccanico, TRL 9.…”

Section: Nella Seguente Lista Vengono Elencati I Vantaggi (+) E Gli Svantaggi (-) Dei Processi Di Riciclounclassified

Prospettive di fine vita dei parchi eolici (wind farms) nelle politiche dell'economia circolare

Poviña¹

2021

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L’energia eolica negli ultimi anni ha avuto un forte incremento e la dismissione degli impianti eolici già esistenti sta suscitando molto interesse sul possibile recupero delle risorse. Una turbina eolica ha una durata media di vita tra 20-25 anni, e oggi 34,000 turbine in Europa hanno 15 anni o più. Una stima di 14,000 pale potrebbe essere disattivata entro il 2023, un equivalente tra 40,000 e 60,000 tonnellate. Pertanto, un mercato potenziale per le turbine eoliche fuori uso e i loro prodotti recuperati deve essere stabilito in Europa. Circa l’85-90% della massa totale delle turbine eoliche può essere riciclata. Il problema principale rimane sulle pale, che sono realizzate in materiale polimerico rinforzato con fibre, i cui metodi di riciclaggio non sono tecnologicamente sviluppati. La situazione di fine vita di un parco eolico richiede una decisione tra differenti possibili progetti sostenibili per l’medio ambiente. La decisione finale sarà influenzata da diversi fattori.

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“…Heat recovery offers the possibility of some positive environmental outcomes. This is because the extraction of 6 tonnes of coal used for heat or power production can be avoided by using 10 tonnes of blade waste (Liu et al, 2019;Nagle et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Other alternatives for the blades after decommissioning include coprocessing the GFRP in a cement kiln to produce cement (Nagle et al, 2020) as well as furniture making and bridge fabrication (Bank, Arias, et al, 2018;Suhail et al, 2019). Co-processing of wind blades, which is a form of recycling, involves adding wind blades to other feedstock in a cement kiln, thereby substituting some of the virgin raw material required for cement manufacture.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

End-of-Life Alternatives for Wind Turbine Blades: Sustainability Indices Based on the UN Sustainable Development Goals

et al. 2021

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The background to this research is that across the world there will be 200,000 tonnes of wind turbine blade waste to be disposed of each year from 2033. The purpose of the research is to compare the relative sustainability of alternative ways to deal with this waste, these being: landfill, incineration with heat recovery, co-processing in cement kilns, making furniture and bridge fabrication. The method is to use the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to select 11 metrics for sustainability. The use of the SDGs adds to the objectivity of this process overcoming one of the principal weaknesses of Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA). Quantitative information methods from Life Cycle Assessment, Geographic Information Science, census data and real options analysis of R&D, alongside qualitative information from Delphi studies and Strengths/Weaknesses/Opportunities/Threats analysis are combined in the assessment. Three MCDA methods are used, each calculates economic, social and environmental sustainability indices for the end-of-life alternatives which are then combined into integrated sustainability indices. A novel Delphi stopping condition based on consensus, consistency and convergence is used. The primary result is that bridge fabrication is the most sustainable alternative with furniture making in second place. Co-processing, incineration with heat recovery and landfill are progressively less sustainable alternatives. This result is robust to substantial changes in the selection of experts' opinions, the weights for MCDA and the values of the metrics. These findings offer researchers and policymakers a robust decision making process, applicable to situations where choices are made on sustainability criteria.

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A Comparative Life Cycle Assessment between landfilling and Co-Processing of waste from decommissioned Irish wind turbine blades

Cited by 86 publications

References 26 publications

The Circular Economy Lifecycle Assessment and Visualization Framework: A Case Study of Wind Blade Circularity in Texas

The Circular Economy Lifecycle Assessment and Visualization Framework: A Case Study of Wind Blade Circularity in Texas

Prospettive di fine vita dei parchi eolici (wind farms) nelle politiche dell'economia circolare

End-of-Life Alternatives for Wind Turbine Blades: Sustainability Indices Based on the UN Sustainable Development Goals

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