New biobased materials for recyclable wind turbine blades
Small cubes of the PolyEster Covalently Adaptable Network (PECAN) resin used to understand their depolymerization kinetics. (Photo by Werner Slocum / NREL)
August 22, 2024 – Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) see a realistic path forward to the manufacture of bio-derivable wind blades that can be chemically recycled and the components reused, ending the practice of old blades winding up in landfills at the end of their useful life.
The findings are published in the new issue of the journal Science. The new resin, which is made of materials produced using bio-derivable resources, performs on par with the current industry standard of blades made from a thermoset resin and outperforms certain thermoplastic resins intended to be recyclable.
