Utilizing decommissioned windmill blades as reinforcement or filler for biocomposites

Abstract

Decommissioned or damaged windmill blades and other wastes have limited applications and are generally disposed into landfills or incinerated. Increasing generation of wind energy will also lead to increase in blades available for disposal. It is estimated that more than 800,000 tons of blades will be available annually for disposal from 2050. Blades contain glass, carbon, resins and other valuable materials and hence it is prudent to develop methods to reuse or recycle the blades. In this study, we have used windmill blade waste (WBW) as reinforcement for polypropylene (PP) and also as filler/additive for coir-WBW-PP hybrid composites. Various proportions of the components were made into composites and studied for the changes in mechanical, acoustic, thermal and noise insulation properties. Tensile strength did not show major increase in properties whereas 70/30 WBW/PP composites had highest flexural strength and modulus. Addition of WBW considerably increased both the tensile and flexural properties of the hybrid composites with up to 180% increase in flexural strength and 173% increase in modulus. Similarly, hybrid composites had better thermal conductivity and the composites containing 80% WBW and 20% PP had the highest thermal conductivity. Coir improved the acoustic sorption due to the presence of pores and voids in the composites whereas WBW acts as filler and decreased the sound sorption. WBW can be effectively used as reinforcement or filler for PP based composites.