SOURCE: Technology x Sustainability Weekly Update

We all know our responsibilities when it comes to reusing and recycling on an individual and household scale but what about industrial-scale reuse and recycling? Here are some projects that are tackling just that, from wind turbine blades to electric-vehicle batteries.

Wind Turbine Blades

Wind turbine blades are generally difficult to recycle because the epoxy resin that is bonded with carbon fiber to produce a strong, lightweight composite previously couldn’t be broken down into usable components. However, a new chemical method developed by the CETEC (Circular Economy For Thermosets Epoxy Composites) initiative, a partnership between Aarhus University, Danish Technological Institute, and wind-turbine-manufacturer Vestas in Denmark, and global epoxy manufacturer Olin, is able to break down epoxy into virgin-grade materials. The process uses “widely available chemicals” and the resulting materials can be used to make new epoxy for wind turbine blades, resulting in a sustainable circular economy.

Epoxy resin has been a standard manufacturing component of wind turbine blades for decades and the blades from the earliest wind-farm projects are nearing the end of their operational life – by the year 2025, 25 000 tonnes of blades are expected to reach their end-of-life each year. The process uses “widely available chemicals”

and the resulting materials can be used to make new epoxy for wind turbine blades, resulting in a sustainable circular economy. Not only that, but the process will potentially be able to be applied to other industries that use epoxy resin.

[Source: Renew Economy and Vestas]

Textiles

According to the University Of Michigan in the USA, less than 15% of the 92 million tons of clothing and other textiles discarded annually are recycled. Part of the reason for this is that textiles are hard to sort because it’s difficult to determine what a fabric, which is often a blend of materials, might consist of if the label is missing due to wear and tear or because it has been removed. Chemical engineers at the university have proposed a solution to this problem: labels that are woven into a fabric using inexpensive photonic fibres that the researchers have developed, which are invisible to the naked eye but which can be read under near-infrared light, which will allow for easier categorization and sorting at recycling centres, many of which already use near-infrared sorting systems to identify different kinds of plastics.

Not only can the photonic fibres indicate the precise composition of the fabric but the researchers have suggested that other data could also be embedded in them that could be useful for consumers who one day might be able to use an app to scan the fibres, such as to verify the authenticity of a branded piece of clothing or discover the origin of the raw materials used to make a textile.

The research was published in the online version of the journal Advanced Materials Technologies in February 2023.

[Source: University of Michigan]

Ocean Fishing Nets

Ocean fishing nets are a major source of plastic waste, and those that are discarded are also heavy contributors to pollution and can be deadly for marine wildlife, as well as dangerous for marine vessels. Lander, a collective in Los Angeles, in the USA, comprising designers, manufacturers, and former professional skateboarders, is putting the recycled plastic nylon from nets that are sent to recycling facilities to good use. It has designed and manufactured two skateboard decks – the Rodeo and the Rio – with a unique diagonal hole structure that “promotes a carving heel-toe ride” and which are made from a blend of 100% ocean recycled plastic nylon and glass fibre reinforcement.

[Source: Tuvie and Lander]

EV Batteries

EV (electric vehicle) batteries are often not recycled because it’s cheaper to mine their rare components than try to extract them from a used battery. However various initiatives are still looking at ways to extract value from the batteries to extend their lifespan.

B2U Storage Solutions, a startup based in Los Angeles in the USA, has devised a method for bundling used EV battery packs together in a plug-and-play system without having to disassemble them. It has bundled 1700 batteries into a functioning storage system connected to a solar energy facility in Los Angeles that can store 25-megawatt hours. The system has cabinet controllers that “connect and disconnect batteries that are connected in series and parallel strings so that weaker batteries with lower capacity do not limit the output of stronger batteries”, as capacity diminishes as a battery ages.

In Europe, Spanish company BeePlanet, which is part of the EU’s Stardust initiative (“a holistic approach in transforming the carbon-based cities to smart, highly efficient, intelligent, and citizen-oriented cities”), has figured out ways to recondition and repurpose used EV batteries to extend their life as storage for solar power via various products, such as a home storage bank and EV charging stations using second-life batteries.

[Source: Times Of San Diego, B2U Storage Solutions, Euronews, and BeePlanet]