Preliminary characterization of wind turbine blade waste by solvolysis, microwave-assisted extraction, and comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography coupled with time-of-flight mass spectrometry

Abstract

The growth of renewable energy infrastructure highlights the urgent need for sustainable solutions to manage its end-of-life materials, including wind turbine blades (WTBs). These composite materials present significant challenges in recycling due to their complex heterogeneous structure and varied chemical composition. To depolymerize WTB composite materials, a solvolysis process was applied. The resulting chemical products underwent microwave-assisted extraction (MAE), using a mixture of n-hexane and methanol (10:3, v:v). The non-polar organic phase was subjected to analysis using comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography–time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC×GC-ToFMS). On the basis of electron impact ionization mass spectral matching at 70 eV, linear retention index data, and molecular distribution on the two-dimensional space, >110 compounds were putatively identified, mainly composed by aromatic and heteroatom-containing species. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that the molecular composition of WTBs has been investigated by MAE-GC×GC–MS.