Recycled rotor blades help Holcim

According to Martin Knops of 4526 REpower Systems, the German cement industry has the capacity to recycle all disused wind power rotor blades in Germany.

Repower Systems, a leading producer of turbines in the German wind energy sector, claims that from 2020 about 15,000tonnes of rotor blades will have to be disposed of in the country each year.

Cement producer 680 Holcim has developed what it claims to be the only legally-secured technology for the sustainable recycling of rotor blades, and this has been in regular operation since mid-2010.

The rotor blades, made out of glass fibre-reinforced plastic, are cut into pieces; the metal is separated, and the rest is incinerated as a fuel in Holcim's cement mill in Lägerdorf. The remaining ash has high silicon content and can be used to replace sand in cement clinker.

Holcim expects the recycling facility in Lägerdorf to reach full capacity with rotor blades in 2015.