Wind turbine blade waste upcycled into a silicon carbide-graphene additive for epoxy resin

Researchers from Tsinghua University, Peking University and the Beijing Graphene Institute have developed a way to convert retired wind turbine blades into a hybrid of silicon carbide and flash graphene, which they then use as an additive in epoxy resin.

Blades are made of glass fibers embedded in crosslinked resin, which makes them hard to recycle. In the new process, the blades are pulverized and mixed with carbon black as a conductive additive. A pulse of current then heats the mixture to about 2,000°C within 0.5 seconds. The silica in the glass fibers is reduced to silicon carbide, and the resin is graphitized into flash graphene. The researchers say the process is dry and needs no solvents or catalysts.

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