When wind turbine rotor blades, radio antenna housings or car parts get old and need to be replaced, they usually end up in landfill being incinerated or used as cement additives. This leads to soil contamination, high CO2 emissions and ultimately to the loss of valuable raw materials such as glass, synthetic resins and metals. The Plas4Plas research project is now developing an innovative plasma process to recover these valuable raw materials from glass fibre reinforced plastics (GRP). TU Bergakademie Freiberg (TUBAF) is an important partner in the project.
Under the leadership of the Leibniz Institute for Plasma Science and Technology e.V. (INP), a team from the TU Bergakademie Freiberg (TUBAF) and the Institute for Environment & Energy, Technology & Analytics e.V. (IUTA) is developing a thermal process that separates the glass fibre reinforced plastics (GRP) in a plasma gasification process at temperatures of more than 5,000 degrees Celsius. This produces glass and a synthesis gas consisting of hydrogen and carbon monoxide, which can be used to synthesise various chemical raw materials such as methanol, olefins, dimethyl ether, ammonia or fuels. Metals integrated in the composite material are also separated and deposited.
"Waste is turned into new raw materials for synthetic resins, polyamides or glass fibres - without any loss of quality," explains Dr Ronny Schimpke from the Institute of Energy Process Engineering and Chemical Engineering (IEC) at TU Bergakademie Freiberg. Freiberg project manager Professor Martin Gräbner explains: "Our special plasma process works completely without oxygen. By using electricity generated from renewable sources, CO2 emissions can be minimised and carbon can be recycled - a ground-breaking improvement in sustainability compared to conventional methods."
The researchers are currently examining which input materials are contained in the material samples from end-of-life wind turbines and other GRP-containing residues and analysing them in detail. The materials are then to be recycled in a test facility at TU Freiberg that has been adapted to the input materials. The Plas4Plas project will run until August 2029 and is funded by the Volkswagenstiftung. Practical partners come from the chemical industry, waste disposal and wind power companies.
