Recycling of glass fibre reinforced polymer composite wind turbine blades in South Africa

With the increasing number of wind energy facilities (WEFs) being constructed in South Africa, largely supported by South Africa’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producers Procurement Program (REIPPPP), there is a growing need to identify feasible disposal pathways for decommissioned wind turbine blades. As a result, this study looks at the waste created from wind turbine blades that have been decommissioned, and it aims to understand an appropriate way to recycle these wind turbine blades in South Africa. This study investigates the loading conditions, structural design, and material composition of wind turbine blades. This research refines the study to looking at Glass Fibre Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) recycling for South Africa whilst considering wind turbine blades as the source of this scrap GFRP. At a global scale, five main categories of GFRP recycling methods are identified: mechanical, thermal, chemical, high-voltage fragmentation and co-processing. These recycling methods are investigated and the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is employed to select a recycling method which is most desirable for possible implementation in South Africa. Using the most desirable recycling method, as selected via the AHP, a life cycle assessment (LCA) is conducted. This LCA is used to compare the implementation of the most desirable recycling method, both domestically and internationally, to the alternative of disposing of the decommissioned wind turbine blades in a landfill. The results from the LCA compare the global warming potential (GWP) of each option to understand which process would be most feasible to implement in South Africa. A selection of transportation sensitivities were conducted to the LCA set up. These sensitivities established that having a GFRP recycling facility within 650 km of every wind farm in South Africa could be a feasible solution for recycling wind turbine blades in South Africa.

Grantor dc:publisher

Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University

Year dc:date.issued

2026

Author dc:creator

• Wheeler, Gail Kate

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Blaine, Deborah
• Erfort, Gareth

Language dc:language.iso

en

Repository record dc:identifier.uri

https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/135556

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/135556