Stena Recycling awarded for wind turbine blade circularity solution

The group is rewarded for having developed a solution that enables the recycling of materials from wind turbine blades on a lab scale. Wind turbine blades have previously been challenging to recycle due to the chemical properties of epoxy resin, a resilient substance that was believed to be impossible to break down into re-usable components.  

The rewarded solution has been developed as part of the CETEC project, which gathers a coalition of industry and academia established to investigate circular technology for turbine blades. The solution is based on a novel chemical process that breaks down epoxy resin into virgin-grade materials, establishing a circular economy for wind turbine blades. It indicates that today’s wind turbine blades can serve as raw materials for future blades and can also be applied to blades currently in operation. Once matured, this will eliminate the need for blade redesign, or landfill disposal of epoxy-based blades when they are decommissioned.