Pozzolanic Reactivity of Recycled Powders from Waste Wind Turbine Blades
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 36, Issue 9
Abstract
Wind turbine blades are primarily composed of fiberglass composite, posing a significant recycling challenge for the wind energy industry. This paper introduces a novel recycling approach by comprehensively analyzing the pozzolanic reactivity of recycled powder as a new supplementary cementitious material (SCM). A systematic characterization using laboratory techniques is first described, establishing both the chemical and morphological properties of the powder and suggesting that the material was likely to be capable of acting as a pozzolan. The effects of thermal and mechanical processing on the reactivity characteristics of the material were elucidated using a suite of analytical and standardized characterization approaches. It was found that through heat treatment to remove impinging resin and subsequent mechanical processing to synthesize a fine powder, the reactivity of the material could be improved to an extent at which the performance characteristics of a conventional class F fly ash were closely matched. For instance, mortar containing 10% of thermally-mechanically processed powder achieves 95% of the 28-day strength of cement mortar. This paper opens the door for both the use of these materials to bolster dwindling supplies of supplementary cementitious materials, and to provide a much-needed reprocessing route for waste fiberglass which are otherwise highly challenging to dispose of cost-effectively.
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Data Availability Statement
All data, models, and code generated or used during the study appear in the published article.
Acknowledgments
The research leading to this publication benefitted from UKRI IAA awarded by Imperial College London, EPSRC funding under Grant No. EP/R010161/1 and from support from the UKCRIC Coordination Node, EPSRC Grant No. EP/R017727/1, which funds UKCRIC’s ongoing coordination. We also acknowledge Mr. Tiejun Ding and Mr. Andrew Morris for their assistance with laboratory work.
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Published In
Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 36 • Issue 9 • September 2024
Copyright
© 2024 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Sep 25, 2023
Accepted: Feb 23, 2024
Published online: Jun 20, 2024
Published in print: Sep 1, 2024
Discussion open until: Nov 20, 2024
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