A team of University of Maine researchers has secured a $75,000 grant to explore recycling wind blades as feedstock for 3D printing. The award is a Phase 1 winner from the Department of Energy’s Wind Energy Technologies Office’s Wind Turbine Materials Recycling Prize.
The WIND REWIND team’s project, "Blades for Large-Format Additive Manufacturing," is led by the Advanced Structures and Composites Center (ASCC). The project proposes to recycle shredded wind turbine blade material as a cost-effective reinforcement and filler for large-scale 3D printing. By substituting short carbon fibres with shredded and milled material from wind blades, the team aims to achieve mechanical recycling of 100% of the composite blade material. Research efforts will focus on developing new compounding methods to achieve the necessary adhesive bond strength of the composite material. The resulting pellets will serve as feedstock for large-format extrusion-based 3D printing, leveraging the ASCC’s manufacturing capabilities.
A follow-on phase would enable the development of larger prototypes and the deployment of case studies with industry partners, ultimately driving wider adoption of sustainable practices in wind energy recycling.
The WIND REWIND team members leading this project submission include faculty and researchers from the ASCC, the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, the Department of Mechanical Engineering, and industry (Dr. Roberto Lopez-Anido, Dr. Reed Miller, Dr. Amrit Verma, John Arimond, Dr. Habib Dagher, Hannah Berten, and Ed Pilpel). This project is led by Dr. Lopez-Anido, with coordination support from Dr. Miller and Dr. Luis Zambrano-Cruzatty.
