French chemicals company Arkema has been awarded the 2020 Pierre Potier prize for its renewable thermoplastic for use in wind turbines.
Arkema
The Elium composite forming process.
The Elium liquid thermoplastic resin allows for fully recyclable wind turbine blades and presents a unique market opportunity for the company as well as making the wind energy sector even more environmentally-friendly as it plays a key role in moving the world towards a carbon-neutral future.
The resin is made using the same manufacturing processes as those used by fabricators to produce thermoset resin parts.
Many of the roughly 341,000 wind turbines on Earth are made of epoxy resin or carbon-fibre owing to their lightweight application. However, they cannot be recast and provide numerous end-of-life problems for the businesses in charge of wind fields.
Guillaume Clédat, Global Sales and Development Director at Arkema, said: “We are immensely proud to receive the Pierre Potier Prize, which commends an innovative and sustainable solution for wind turbine blades at the end of their lifecycle.
"With our Elium thermoplastic resin, we have provided a solution to the environmental challenges of wind power by making it a part of a circular economy approach.”
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Wind power was the leading cause of negative power prices across Europe throughout 2020 and is thought to be so cheap and sustainable that it could start paying customers back if properly utilised.
The global wind power fleet is growing by 10 to 15% every year, and the elimination of end-of-life issues with unsustainable materials provides an optimistic future for the wind industry.
The UK has already set a 40GW target for 2030, which would allow for wind power to provide energy to all UK homes if the targets are met.
The Elium thermoplastic enables the production of a wide variety of fibreglass or carbon-fibre composite parts of all shapes and sizes.
Arkema claims their new design has two major economic benefits: ease of implementation with short hardening times and its compatibility with the numerous technologies for processing existing thermosetting resins, thus limiting investments in many sectors such as transportation, construction and the boating industry.
The resin is being developed in the French company's research centre in Lacq.
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