116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
New wind turbine blade recycler opens in Fairfax
Shredded fibers could strengthen concrete and asphalt
FAIRFAX — From 150-foot wind turbine blades to slivers of fiberglass half a toothpick in size, a new recycling center in Fairfax aims to reduce waste to the landfill and develop products that can be used to strengthen construction materials.
Call it a wind-win.
REGEN Fiber, owned by Alliant Energy subsidiary Travero, hosted a grand opening Wednesday to explain the process for recycling decommissioned wind turbine blades. The plant, which cost more than $10 million and employs eight people, is expected to start processing materials next week.
“Until now, wind turbine blades posed significant recycling challenges,” Travero President Lisha Coffey said. “They’re really big and they’re made of all sorts of materials: wood, foam, metals and epoxy-laden fiberglass.”
Processing blades without chemicals or heat
REGEN Fiber uses a mechanical process — as opposed to heat or chemicals — to process up to 12 tons of material an hour. The average decommissioned blade has from 3 to 10 tons of recyclable material, said Jake Nickel, senior operations manager for REGEN Fiber.
When spent wind turbine blades arrive at the plant, they already are broken down with the largest chunks being the size of a small car, Nickel said. The pieces are loaded onto a conveyor belt, where they go through a series of mills and drums that further dismantle the pieces through a patent-pending process.
The process is so secret that guests — including elected officials and potential customers — on Wednesday’s tour had to leave their cellphones behind to avoid photography.
Different grates are used to sort the materials into varying sizes, depending on the intended application, Nickel said. “It is chewing up the material until it is the size that can fit through that grate,” he said.
Nickel pointed out red canisters attached to the machinery throughout the plant. If a spark is detected in the system, the canisters deploy sodium carbonate to suppress a fire or explosion. The closed system prevents fiberglass particles from getting into the air and harming employees.
How would fibers be used?
The plant even captures dust, which operators hope could be sold along with other products to be added to concrete, mortar or asphalt to improve performance. Early studies show the fibers strengthen concrete and reduce cracking and shrinking, said Jeff Woods, business development director for Travero.
Iowa Department of Transportation officials who attended the event said they are interested in the product for future roads projects, but would like to see more of the research that is underway.
Wind turbine blades have a life expectancy of about 20 years. Alliant Energy, which owns Travero and REGEN Energy, owns eight wind farms in Iowa with the earliest starting operations in 2008.
“Our wind turbine blades aren’t at the end of their lives yet,” Alliant spokesman Morgan Hawk said. “But when they are, REGEN Fiber is an option” for recycling.
Fairfax Mayor Jo Ann Beer said she’s thrilled to have Travero and REGEN Fiber located in the city of just under 3,000 residents west of Cedar Rapids.
“The project provides an important opportunity for local growth and sustainability,” she said.
Comments: (319) 339-3157; erin.jordan@thegazette.com
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