DITF to participate in recycling wind turbine blades

The German Institutes of Textile and Fiber Research (DITF) is one of 14 partners from seven countries participating in an effort to deal with composite waste in the wind energy sector. Funded by Horizon Europe and the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA), “REWIND” stands for Efficient Decommissioning, Repurposing and Recycling to increase the Circularity of end-of-life Wind Energy Systems. 

The project partners are developing basic technologies for dismantling the composite material and methods for disassembling and evaluating the material when wind turbine blades have reached the end of their service life. In the next step, recycling processes and options for reusing the composite materials will be developed. The aim is to make the wind turbine blades recyclable instead of landfilling or incinerating them.

The kick-off meeting of the REWIND project took place in Valencia, Spain, in mid-May. At this first meeting, the research consortium discussed the objectives of the research project and the planning. The task of the DITF is to develop a yarn and a fabric for new components or for repair kits for wind turbines from the glass and carbon fibers recycled by the project partners.