IXR media coverage, page-695

The U.S. Department of Energy today announced 20 winners of the first phase of the Wind Turbine Materials Recycling Prize 18/01/2024 The $5.1 million, two-phase competition funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law helps develop a cost-effective and sustainable recycling industry for key wind turbine materials not currently recycled commercially. Robust, domestic recycling options for fiber-reinforced composites and rare earth elements will help the environment by lowering the United States’ need to extract and process raw materials. The reuse of more critical materials would also decrease dependence on imports, which would make domestic supply chains less susceptible to price volatility and disruptions. By creating a circular economy for wind energy systems, the Wind Turbine Materials Recycling Prize supports the Biden-Harris Administration’s goals of achieving a carbon-pollution-free power sector by 2035 and net-zero emissions by 2050.

The 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)

https://www.energy.gov/eere/articles/doe-announces-phase-one-prize-winners-boost-recycling-circular-wind-energy-economy