Life Cycle Assessment to Quantify Global Warming and Human Health-Respiratory Impacts of Using Composites from Waste Wind Turbine Blades as Feedstock for Cement Clinker and Fiberglass Production.

Abstract

The wind energy sector is a growing contributor to global electricity generation. The increasing deployment of wind turbines also creates significant waste when turbine materials reach their end-of-life. Glass fiber reinforced polymer composites, which comprise the majority of a wind turbine blade's mass, are difficult to separate into their component parts for recycling. This study employs a cradle-to-gate life cycle assessment to evaluate the environmental impacts of utilizing waste wind turbine blade material in cement clinker and fiberglass production. We find that incorporating waste blades as 15% of the feedstock in a cement clinker production plant reduces global warming and human health-respiratory impacts by 9 and 34%, respectively, compared to using virgin materials only. For a fiberglass plant, this substitution increases global warming impacts by 11% but decreases respiratory health impacts by 3%. Each kilogram of secondary product diverts approximately 0.25-0.32 kg of WTB waste from landfills. The projected rate of blade decommissioning of ∼800,000 tonnes per year would replace less than 1% of the overall virgin material demand for the cement clinker industry and up to 8% for the fiberglass industry, indicating plenty of capacity for these industries to accommodate this waste blade material in their feedstocks.