Recycled Wind Turbine Blades Can Make Gummy Bears, Diapers Combining Glass Fibers with Plant-Derived Polymer

A team of researchers recently developed a binding resin, the ingredient that holds their fibrous material together, that can be converted into more valuable substances, a development that encourages the recycling of wind turbine blades.

A Scientific American report specified that wind turbine blades are usually designed as replaceable materials for roughly two decades.

As wind energy becomes more famous, more and more of these hulking fiberglass structures will be scrapped, and many of them could be buried in the ground.

According to chemical engineering and material science professor John Dorgan, from Michigan State University, who worked on developing the new resin, they have specially designed a system "with the end of life in mind."

After being used for years to strengthen wind turbine blades or other structures, the resin can be recycled into another turbine blade. It can also be downcycled into a composite material used to make plastic products.

Wind Turbine Blades Processed to Make Gummy Bears and Diapers

Aside from plastic products, wind turbine blades can also be processed to produce more valuable chemicals.

The upcycled options, for instance, comprise the shatter-resistant acrylic plexiglass, a superabsorbent polymer used in manufacturing diapers, and the food preservative potassium lactate, which, Dorgan said, he used to make gummy bears that he can even eat.

Typically, wind turbine blades are 170 feet long, approximately the length of an Olympic-sized swimming pool.

Nonetheless, since bigger turbines can capture more energy, some offshore wind farms invest in taller installations that can model blades almost twice as long.

When the massive blades are damaged to reach the end of their lifespan, they need to be retired from use. By 2050, experts estimate that over two million tons of blade materials could be decommissioned yearly.

A Solution to Main Wind Energy Problem

For maximum effectiveness, wind turbine blades need to be strong and light, so engineers usually craft them from fiberglass bonded together with a polymer resin.

Theoretically, this material can be recycled, although researchers say the end product is not specifically valuable.

Commenting on their work presented in The American Chemical Society, Dorgan said the main problem is that it is simply costly. It is less expensive to bury it in the ground than to reprocess it into something functional.

To solve the problem, recycling wind turbine blades need to become easier, not to mention more profitable. Many renewable energy companies, including General Electric, Siemens Gamesa, and Vestas, are working to address the issue.

Syrupy Resin Produced

Dorgan's team produced a syrupy resin by dissolving a polymer derived from plants known as polylactide in a methyl methacrylate or MMA, a synthetic monomer, a related EcoWatch report specified.

Then, the research team utilized vacuum pressure to pull the resin through glass fibers. After having the fibers impregnated with the liquid, the resin hardened, producing solid fiberglass panels.

The same procedure can be used to make larger structures, including wind turbine blades and boat hulls.

When the time to recycle the experimental fiberglass panels came, the team had a few options. One of them was that they could crush the panels and add an extra polymer, generating a plastic material that could be transformed into other objects through injection molding.

Cooking the resin at a high temperature generated a superabsorbent material called "poly," or methacrylic acid, used in diapers and other products.

Moreover, a little more processing resulted in potassium lactate, which is added as a preservative to various foods.

Turning Somethin That Can Be Eaten

Even though Dorgan used it to make his version of gummy bears, he's not necessarily seeing homemade candy as the primary way to enhance the wind turbine blades' recyclability.

He said his goal is to boost recycling by changing people's attitudes. He added that he's trying to "push the boundaries of how people" think about recycling.

Lastly, he also said, as far as he knows, nobody has ever "reprocessed a durable composite material into something that can be eaten."

A report about the wind turbine blades being recycled into gummy bears is shown on Autumn's Backyard Garden's YouTube video below:

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