Rejuvenation of Recyclable Wind Turbine Blades

Project Description:

This project is closed to new applicants

This PhD scholarship is offered by the EPSRC CDT in Offshore Wind Energy Sustainability and Resilience; a partnership between the Universities of Durham, Hull, Loughborough and Sheffield. The successful applicant will undertake six-month of training with the rest of the CDT cohort at the University of Hull before continuing their PhD research at the University of Sheffield.

While the wind energy industry is a green success story in the field of renewable energy, end-of-life solutions, especially for composite blades with a limited lifespan, remain a challenge. Siemens Gamesa and Aditya Birla have successfully developed full scale manufacturing of recyclable wind turbine blades, in a project called RecyclableBlade. Using a mild solvent (acetic acid), they have proven the economic viability of introducing recyclability in the wind energy value chain, while reducing CO2 emissions by 28%.   

While the viability of full-scale wind turbine blades made with Recyclamine® has been demonstrated, the key innovation of this project lies in exploring a fundamentally different application of this material system: the use of localised heating to rejuvenate and extend the lifespan of recyclable blades already in service. The core knowledge gap relates to how Recyclamine®-based systems respond to controlled, spatially confined thermal stimuli. Recyclamine® is known for its cleavable bonds that enable chemical recycling, but some of its variants also demonstrate topological rearrangement above certain threshold temperatures, akin to thermoplastics. This vitrimeric behaviour has only recently been identified and remains underexplored in the context of structural composites like wind blades.  

The potential of these new findings will be investigated at small scale with different Recyclamine® variants at coupon level first, followed by manufacturing and fatigue testing of small-scale wind turbine blades or demonstrator segments before and after rejuvenation. The coupling of recycling/re-use solutions with the potential of extending the blade lifespan, with clear pathway to impact at scale will prove to be very beneficial to the industry.

Training and development

You will benefit from a taught programme, giving you a broad understanding of the breadth and depth of current and emerging offshore wind sector needs. This begins with an intensive six-month programme at the University of Hull for the new student intake, drawing on the expertise and facilities of all four academic partners. It is supplemented by Continuing Professional Development (CPD), which is embedded throughout your 4-year research scholarship.

You will receive training in composite manufacturing as well as mechanical and physical testing equipment inductions.

If you have any queries about this project, please contact Dr Colin Robert: c.robert@sheffield.ac.uk 

You may also address queries about the CDT to auracdt@hull.ac.uk.

Watch our short video to hear from Aura CDT students, academics and industry partners:

References & Further Reading 

https://www.sandia.gov/app/uploads/sites/273/2022/11/SGRE_RecyclableBlade_Sandia2022_LHv1.pdf

https://www.recyclamine.com/

https://www.abg-am.com/portfolio/chemistry/recyclamine-technology/F008?tab=1 

https://www.siemensgamesa.com/global/en/home/explore/journal/recyclable-blade.html 

 https://interregtiger.com/paimpol-brehat-tidal-test-site-improving-the-quality-of-tidal-turbine-blades/