Comparative study between different valorization methods of glass fiber waste from end-of-life wind turbine blades

Over the past two decades, the wind turbine industry has grown rapidly. As a result, thousands of tons of composite materials from these end-of-life (EoL) wind turbine blades (WTBs) are discarded every year. Due to their three-dimensional structure, which consists of a thermoset matrix and mainly glass fibers (GF), their recovery is a challenge. The objective of this study is to compare several recycling technologies for composite materials using landfill as a baseline scenario. Several aspects can influence the performance of plastic composite recycling, but one of the most important is the efficiency of recycling technologies in terms of the recovered glass fiber rate. To evaluate this amount of fiber annually, a material flow analysis (MFA) was performed using 2023 as the study year. A correlation with other aspects was established in order to perform a multi-criteria approach based on maturity level, technical, economic and environmental aspects. These criteria are the Technology Readiness (TRL), cost, energy demand and retained tensile strength