Remarkably Strong Lightweight Paulownia Wood Composite Wind Turbine Blades
Victor Garlington
We Develop Eco-Friendly Agricultural Crops For Energy, Timber & Food. ??#trees ?? #carbonmining
In the wind turbine industry the blades are getting bigger! It's 2021 and MHI Vestas Offshore Wind's V164 rises 105 meters high at the hub, swing 80-meter blades, and generate up to 10 MW, making it the first commercially available double-digit turbine ever. GE Renewable Energy is developing a 12-MW wind turbine with a 260-meter tower and 107-meter blades, also rolling out in 2021. Ecuador supplies 95% of the world’s commercial balsa wood. In 2019 Balsa made up 38% of wind blade core materials, compared to 31% by PVC and 25% by PET. The majority of wind turbine blades are made from a base of fiberglass and balsa wood, held together with resin and coating.
Engineers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in the United States have calculated that a 100-metre blade requires 150 cubic metres (5,300 cubic feet) of balsa wood, or several tonnes.
BALSA WOOD
Balsa wood, it's a fast-growing hardwood that thrives in the climates found in parts of South America and is known for its strength and light weight.
Based on the application, wind energy segment holds the largest share of more than 30% in the balsa core materials market in 2019. Lower weight, cost effective and high strength of balsa core materials makes it suitable to use in the wind turbine blades. Increased global demand for wind for power generation has propelled the growth of balsa core materials market. According to International Energy Agency (IEA), global onshore wind electricity generation increased by 12% in 2018 and is expected to grow in future, which in turn boosts the increased growth of balsa core materials.
Balsa is a natural honeycomb-like cell structure, extensively used in sandwich composites for their unique properties. The wind energy industries increased demand for a higher-quality product with higher strength and low weight and the ecological advantages of balsa core materials over other substitutes like PET and carbon core materials make the wood an industry favorite currently.
Currently there is a worldwide shortage of Balsa and one of the biggest shortages†among materials used in wind turbines. The rollout of new wind power projects could be delayed world wide by this shortage.
PAULOWNIA WOOD
As you can imagine core material shortage or ability to avoid it is an important competitive differentiator in wind. Paulownia Wood is the Less Expensive, Stronger lightweight Alternative to Balsa Wood. Paulownia wood advance material composite applications far exceeds balsa in the categories of strength and weight.
Balsa has been incorrectly considered to have the highest strength to weight ratios of any wood in the world. Paulownia has been thoroughly tested and found to have a higher strength to weight ratio than Balsa! Auburn University tested the strength of 18 lb p/cubic ft. Paulownia against Balsa, with an average weight of 10 lbs p/cubic foot.
Paulownia timber is light and extremely strong, that makes it preferable, when this correlation is important. The timber of P. elongata and P. fortunei is half the weight of oak and lighter than coniferous species timber. The high ratio of strength/weight makes the Paulownia timber irreplaceable in shipbuilding and aviation. Excellent characteristics for many types of wood products -- light-colored and mostly knot-free, strong and even-grained, density between that of balsa and poplar (15 to 19 pounds per cubic ft.), which is about half the density (weight) of pine, insect and fire resistant – it possesses unlimited applications.
The low weight is the main advantage of the Paulownia timber. The correlation strength-weight (main quality coefficient) in comparison with other timber species is high, which makes the Paulownia suitable for some applications that require soft but relatively strong wood. Coefficient of deformation is lower than the most commonly used timber. It does not warp, crack or deform during drying and objects made from paulownia retain their original form.
Paulownia timber is water-resistant, it is exceptionally stable, withstands warping, breakages, deformations and easily allows all types of treatment.
COMPOSITE MARKET
Core Materials Market size is forecast to reach $2.5 billion by 2025, after growing at a CAGR of 14.1% during 2020-2025. Core materials are considered as the special class of composite materials, normally having low strength, but higher thickness provides the sandwich composite with high bending stiffness with overall low-density boosting demand in various industries which include Wind turbine blades, offshore wind power infrastructure, aerospace, and marine industries.
Non-Honeycomb Sandwich Panel Core Materials Market size is forecast to reach $1.04 billion by 2025 after growing at a CAGR of 6% during 2020-2025. Non-Honeycomb sandwich panel core materials which is composite configuration that consists of high strength composite facing sheets bonded to lightweight foam, balsa, or honeycomb core.
The growth of the market of non-honeycomb sandwich panel core materials is expected to be driven by the high demand from the aerospace industry. The other growth factor is construction industry which is using non-honeycomb sandwich panel core materials for manufacturing of light weight parts.
ASIA (GW) by 2050.
Asia poised to become world leader in wind energy market by 2050. According to the report Future of Wind, Asia will by 2050 account for more than half of all onshore and more than 60 per cent of all offshore wind power installations globally.
Asia would become global leader in wind by increasing the share of installed capacity for onshore wind from 230 Gigawatt (GW) in 2018 to over 2600 gigawatts (GW) of installed onshore and offshore wind capacity by 2050, followed by India (443 GW), Republic of Korea (78 GW) and Southeast Asia (16 GW).
Paulownia wood core materials can meet this global demand.
Superior Properties of Paulownia Core Material to Balsa
Based on the results obtained from simulations, Paulownia has the best configuration for maximum strength, minimum weight and thickness compared to balsa or bambo.
NEW REPORT:
Conceptual Design of Composite Bridge Sandwich Structure (Paulownia Wood)
Published: 28 December 2020
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/11/1/214/htm
Key Takeaways
- High prices of Balsa wood and global supply chain disruption due to the impact of coronavirus acts as a restraint for the growth of balsa core materials industry.
- Neck breaking installation of wind farms for energy production in China is propelling the growth balsa core materials market.
- Paulownia is a readily available replacement for balsa in the core materials market.
Related Paulownia Research Reports :
Paulownia wood core material for laminated structure
Interlaminar Behavior of Paulownia Wood Sandwich Composites with Grooves
Conceptual Design of Composite Bridge Sandwich Structure (Paulownia Wood)
Received: 13 November 2020 / Revised: 18 December 2020 / Accepted: 21 December 2020 / Published: 28 December 2020
Interlaminar Behavior of Paulownia Wood Sandwich Composites with Grooves
Mechanical Properties of Paulownia Wood Core and Fiberglass Surfaces Sandwich Panel
Pultrusion process and interface performance of new light wood-GFRP sandwich panels
Evaluation of Physical and Mechanical Properties of Paulownia Wood Core and Fiberglass Surfaces Sandwich Panel
Experimental Study of the Flexural and Compression Performance of an Innovative Pultruded Glass-Fiber-Reinforced Polymer-Wood Composite Profile
Yujun Qi ,Wei Xiong,Weiqing Liu,Hai Fang,Weidong Lu Published: October 20, 2015
A comparative study on some properties of wood plastic composites using canola stalk, Paulownia, and nanoclay." Journal of Applied Polymer Science 129, no. 3 (2013)
Anatomical Structures of Thermally Compressed Paulownia (Paulownia spp.) Wood - Zeki Candan, Istanbul University,Turkey
Wind farm developers can demand turbine manufacturers use more renewable components in their equipment with a thought to what happens with the blades at the end of their lifecycle. Landfill, repurpose or recycling?
Learn More About Paulownia
BioEconomy Solutions
We're a U.S. South Carolina Paulownia Timber producer and have millions of board foot available. We can mill lumber for your business needs. Contact Us for details. Office: 843.305.4777 | Email: mail@bioeconomysolutions.com Here's a link to our online calendar, schedule a conference call with us:
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Sources:
https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2021/01/29/a-worrying-windfall-the-wind-power-boom-set-off-a-scramble-for-balsa-wood-in-ecuador/
https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy19osti/73585.pdf
https://newatlas.com/environment/balsa-wood-wind-turbine-blades/
https://www.ft.com/content/315455ae-021f-11ea-be59-e49b2a136b8d
https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3080227/china-turbine-makers-winded-after-ecuador-lockdown-leaves-them-without
https://spectrum.ieee.org/energy/renewables/wind-turbines-just-keep-getting-bigger-but-theres-a-limit
Paulownia Wood v.s. Balsa Wood
Paulownia Wood... the Less Expensive, Stronger Alternative to Balsa Wood!
Have you worked with Paulownia wood? Our South Carolina Paulownia is #sustainable, light & strong! Learn More
Paulownia Wood Sandwich Under Vacuum Assisted Resin Infusing Molding (VARIM)
Chief
2 å¹´Michael Lyng Bundgaard does VEstas use wood in their mills ?
Chief
2 å¹´Kristina Jessen
Managing Director at Global Perspectives Investment Fund, Ltd
4 å¹´Thanks for sharing this Victor. Wishing you an excellent 2021! Hope we can DO something interesting together ????