IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v17y2025i9p4202-d1650280.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Prospects for the Valorization of Wind Turbine Blade Waste: Fiber Recovery and Recycling

Author

Listed:
  • Regina Kalpokaitė-Dičkuvienė

    (Laboratory of Materials Research and Testing, Lithuanian Energy Institute, Breslaujos St. 3, 44403 Kaunas, Lithuania)

  • Vilma Snapkauskienė

    (Plasma Processing Laboratory, Lithuanian Energy Institute, Breslaujos St. 3, 44403 Kaunas, Lithuania)

Abstract

The article reviews the literature on the potential utilization of decommissioned wind turbine blade waste (WTBW) in construction materials, including geopolymers, which are rarely discussed. The review indicates that only the mechanical processing of WTBW creates prerequisites for its possible use as fillers in construction materials; however, adjustments to the composition of binding materials are necessary. Wind turbine blades (WTBs) are usually made from strong and durable composite materials, thus posing serious recycling and environmental challenges. Thermal process methods are promising approaches for recovering glass fibers from thermosets of WTBW through pyrolysis or converting WTBW into fibers via plasma processing. Preliminary durability studies of such recovered and recycled glass fibers have demonstrated their potential application in geopolymers or cement-based materials. Implementing these technologies would expand the waste management system, completing recycling and reuse solutions. To successfully adopt more environmentally friendly solutions, further development of geopolymer production processes and sustainable fiber recovery is recommended.

Suggested Citation

  • Regina Kalpokaitė-Dičkuvienė & Vilma Snapkauskienė, 2025. "Prospects for the Valorization of Wind Turbine Blade Waste: Fiber Recovery and Recycling," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(9), pages 1-24, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:9:p:4202-:d:1650280
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/9/4202/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/9/4202/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:9:p:4202-:d:1650280. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.