Page 14 - IAV Digital Magazine #554

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The Next Generation of Wind Turbine Blades Could Be Recycled Into Gummy Bears At The End of Their Service
Researchers at Michigan State University have made a compos- ite resin for the blades by com- bining glass fibers with a plant- derived polymer and a synthetic
one. Once the blades have reached the end of their lifespan the materials can be broken down and recycled to make new prod- ucts including tur- bine blades – and
chewy sweets.
Wind power is one of the domi- nant forms of renewable ener- gy. However, tur- bine blades, usu- ally made of fiber- glass, can be as
long as half a football field and cause problems with disposal, with many discarded in landfills when they reach the end of their use cycle.
To combat the waste, researchers designed a new form of resin. Digesting the resin in an alka- line solution pro- duced potassium lactate, which can be purified and made into sweets and sports drinks.
“We recovered food-grade potas- sium lactate and used it to make gummy bear can- dies, which I ate,” said John Dorgan, one of the authors of the paper.
The alkaline digestion also released poly(methyl methacrylate), or PMMA, a com- mon acrylic mate- rial used in win- dows and car tail- lights.
On eating gummy bears that are
derived from a wind turbine, Dorgan says “a carbon atom derived from a plant, like corn or grass, is no differ- ent from a carbon atom that came from a fossil fuel. It’s all part of the global carbon cycle, and we’ve shown that we can go from bio- mass in the field to durable plastic materials and back to food- stuffs.”
He added: “The beauty of our resin system is that at the end of its use cycle, we can dissolve it, and that releases it from whatever matrix it’s in so that it can be used over and over again in an infinite loop. That’s the goal of the circular econ- omy.”
iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine