Dismantling, Shredding, Sorting of Rotor Blades from Wind Turbines and Reuse of the Wood Components

At the end of a rotor blade's life cycle (estimated at 10 - 20 years), wind turbine blades have to be recycled. In various projects, the development of a suitable recycling and recovery process was to separate the excellent material properties of the balsa wood and the foam as purely as possible from the glass and carbon fibers and make them usable for new applications. The presentation will show the dismantling of a rotor blade of more than 80 m in length using water jet technology and the shredding of essential parts using a shredder. The further separation of the shredded pieces and the separation of the glass fibers from the balsa wood and the foam will be demonstrated. At the end, renewed utilization possibilities for the waste wood and the foams will be shown. The new products from the old rotor blades will be wood fiber insulation mats, wood foam and wood polymer composites.