Energy company Acciona Energia is supporting the construction of a wind blade recycling plant in northern Spain.
The Waste2Fiber blade recycling plant will have a processing capacity of 6,000 tonnes per year. A total of 5.3 million euros will be invested in this project, including government funds.
Construction of the factory in Lumbia town, Navarre state, is scheduled for the first half of this year. Once operational in 2025, the facility is expected to employ more than 100 of his employees.
Acciona Energia is building the facility in collaboration with its parent group, infrastructure construction company Acciona SA, and start-up RenerCycle.
They envision a site equipped with unique heat treatment technology to recycle composite materials. Their innovative methods include maintaining moderately controlled temperature and atmospheric conditions.
This maintains the properties of the reinforcing fibers and allows the organic part to be reused or converted into secondary raw materials for composites.
These secondary materials can be introduced into new production processes with quality comparable to virgin materials. Acciona Energia says the recycled glass and carbon fibers produced by the process are suitable for use in industries such as automotive and construction, while the organic compounds have applications in the chemical industry.