Developing a cost-effective and sustainable recycling industry for fiber-reinforced composites and rare earth elements in wind turbines
In July 2023, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Wind Energy Technologies Office (WETO) launched the Wind Turbine Materials Recycling Prize.
This $5.1 million competition is funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law under the American-Made Challenges program to help the United States develop a cost-effective recycling industry for two important materials used in wind turbines: fiber-reinforced composites and rare earth elements.
The competition is split into two phases. In the first phase, 20 winners are announced in January 2024 and awarded a total of $1.5 million. with each receiving $75,000.
In phase two, the final six winners of the competition are announced in September 2024 and awarded a total of $3.6 million. Each winning team receiving $500,000 in cash prizes and vouchers valued at $100,000 to work with DOE national laboratories to advance their recycling technologies.
About 85%–90% of the mass of a wind turbine is made of materials that can already be commercially recycled. This prize aims to close the gap on the remaining 10%–15% of unrecyclable material, which is primarily carbon fiber and fiberglass (found in wind turbine blades, nacelle covers, and hub covers), and rare earth elements like neodymium and dysprosium (found in generators).
Winning technologies include solutions for recycling rare earth elements and reusing fiber-reinforced composites, supporting environmental goals and strengthening domestic supply chains.
By helping to create a circular wind energy economy, this prize will increase the sustainability of wind energy and support the Biden-Harris Administration’s goals of achieving a carbon-pollution-free power sector by 2035 and net-zero emissions by 2050.
This initiative will reduce the U.S.’s reliance on extracting raw materials and importing critical resources, thereby stabilizing domestic supply chains and minimizing environmental impact.
Winners of Phase One ‘Initiate!’ announced
20 teams from 15 states were selected as winners of the Initiate! phase of the prize for their innovative ideas to enhance wind material recycling technologies and processes.
Each of the winning teams received $75,000 and an invitation to move into the final phase of the competition, Accelerate!, where they will develop prototypes of their technologies.
“These winning teams presented innovative technology ideas that exemplify the creative, problem-solving skills we need to build a highly sustainable wind turbine recycling industry,” said Jeff Marootian, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. “On top of that, these domestic recycling solutions enhance our energy security by reducing the nation’s dependence on foreign materials.”
The Initiate! Phase One winning teams are:
- A New Fiber Spinning for Composite Recycling (Athens, Georgia)
- A Novel Method for Recycling Neodymium Magnet (Salt Lake City, Utah)
- Blades for Large-Format Additive Manufacturing (Orono, Maine)
- Chemolysis Recycling of All Turbine Blade Material (Albuquerque, New Mexico)
- Circular Mechanical Recycling of Wind Turbines (Charleston, South Carolina)
- Composite Fiber Recovery and Resin Recycling (Amherst, Massachusetts)
- Continuous Chemical Recycling at Ambient Pressure (Pullman, Washington)
- Domestic Rare Earth Recovery from Wind Turbines Using ADR (Boone, Iowa)
- Flash Composite Recycling: Turbine Blades to Silicon Carbide (Houston, Texas)
- Hybrid Composites from Wood and Wind Turbine Blade (Denton, Texas)
- Launching Circular Composite Infrastructure (Knoxville, Tennessee)
- Mobile Onsite Wind Turbine Blade Shredder System (Huntington, West Virginia)
- Mobile Wind Blade Recycling for Concrete (Grand Rapids, Michigan)
- PulseWave Resonance Frequency Recycling Technology (Allen, Texas)
- Rare Earth Element Production with Net-Zero Carbon Emission (West Lafayette, Indiana)
- Recycling Wind Turbine Blades to Asphalt (Lubbock, Texas)
- REEMAG Breakthrough Magnet Recycling (New York City, New York)
- Resin-Bonded Coatings for Concrete (Houston, Texas)
- Re-Wind USA (Atlanta, Georgia)
- RUTE Suntracker Footing (Portland, Oregon)
The Wind Turbine Materials Recycling Prize is funded by DOE’s Wind Energy Technologies Office (WETO). It is part of DOE’s American Made Challenges program and is administered by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
