Acciona’s Waste2Fiber wind blade recycling plant has been declared a project of regional interest by the Executive of the Autonomous Community of Navarre in Spain, which is expected to speed up its processing and development.
The plant will begin construction in the middle of this year in Lumbier (Navarra) and will employ more than 100 people.
Once in operation, by the end of 2025, it will have a processing capacity of 6,000 tonnes of material per year, covering all stages of the production process, from the dismantling and fragmentation of the blades to the output and quality control of the final products.
The Waste2Fiber plant will use proprietary heat treatment technology to recycle composite materials present in wind turbine blades.
The process, which will prevent combustion, will make it possible to preserve the properties of the reinforcing fibres, reuse the organic fractions and transform the composite materials into secondary raw materials with high added value.
These secondary raw materials can be used in new production processes with a quality comparable to that of virgin raw materials, which represents a considerable environmental improvement.
On the one hand, the environmental burdens derived from obtaining virgin material will be avoided and, on the other, those derived from the disposal of the input material, contributing to a more sustainable and efficient industrial production.
With more than 4,000 wind turbines currently in operation in Spain, blade recycling is a critical issue for the wind industry and Waste2Fiber is another step in the right direction towards long-term sustainable recycling solutions.