Composite Material Recycling Technology – State-of-the-Art and Sustainable Development for the 2020s.

Abstract

Recently, significant events took place that added immensely to the sociotechnical pressure for developing sustainable composite recycling solutions, namely (1) a ban on composite landfilling in Germany in 2009, (2) the first major wave of composite wind turbines reaching their End-of-Life (EoL) and being decommissioned in 2019-2020, (3) the acceleration of aircraft decommissioning due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and (4) the increase of composites in mass production cars, thanks to the development of high volume technologies based on thermoplastic composites. Such sociotechnical pressure will only grow in the upcoming decade of 2020s as other countries are to follow Germany by limiting and banning landfill options, and by the ever-growing number of expired composites EoL waste. The recycling of composite materials will therefore play an important role in the future, in particular for the wind energy, but also for aerospace, automotive, construction and marine sectors to reduce environmental impacts and to meet the demand. The scope of this manuscript is a clear and condensed yet full state-of-the-art overview of the available composite recycling technologies of both low and high Technology Readiness Levels (TRL). TRL is a framework that has been used in many variations across industries to provide a measurement of technology maturity from idea generation (basic principles) to commercialization. In other words, this work should be treated as a technology review providing guidelines for the sustainable development of the industry that will benefit the society. The authors propose that one of the key aspects for the development of sustainable recycling technology is to identify the optimal recycling methods for different types of composites. Why is that the case can be answered with a simple price comparison of E-glass fibers (~2 $/kg) versus a typical carbon fiber on the market (~20 $/kg) – which of the two is more valuable to recover? However, the answer is more complicated than that – the glass fiber constitutes about 90% of the modern reinforcement market, and it is clear that different technologies are needed. Therefore, this work aims to provide clear guidelines for economically and environmentally sustainable End-of-Life (EoL) solutions and development of the composite material recycling.

A mini-review of end-of-life management of wind turbines: Current practices and closing the circular economy gap

“…Dispose. Disposing waste turbine blades in landfills is currently the default choice in most countries except in the EU, where most member states have voted for legislation to ban composites in the landfill (Krauklis et al 2021). However, even in the absence of regulations, it can be costly and difficult to find a landfill that accepts turbine blades as it competes with municipal waste for limited space.…”

Caracterização Sobre as Especificidades Acerca das Etapas e Possibilidades de Reciclagem das Embalagens Longa Vida

“…Assim, a reciclagem dessas embalagens se faz necessária para reduzir os impactos ambientais da geração de resíduos, para que dessa forma, possa recuperar os materiais contidos nas embalagens cartonadas possam ser inseridos ou reutilizados nos processos de produção, reduzindo a necessidade de exploração dos recursos naturais (HAYDARY et al, 2013;ZÚÑIGA-MURO et al, 2021). Porém os processos de reciclagem dessas embalagens, são prejudicadas pela sua composição e ao custo do processo (KRAUKLIS et al, 2021;DELVERE et al, 2019).…”

Developing the Green Building Materials Selection Criteria for Sustainable Building Projects

“…Krauklis et al [63] agreed that recycling and reuse materials positively contribute to resource efficiency. Lam et al [64] stated that negative effects on the climate have been central to climate change since the past decade.…”