Sustainable recycling and end-of-life strategies for composite materials used for the energy transition – a chemical recycling route.

The recycling of high-quality polymer-based materials, such as composites, is currently predominantly done through coarse mechanical recycling, pyrolysis (thermal recycling), or solvolysis (chemical recycling). Due to technical, economic, and ecological limitations, there is relatively little industrial-scale recycling of these materials (7), resulting in a significant portion ending up in landfills or incinerators.
This leads to the main question: How can knowledge and implementation of chemical recycling contribute to the design and material transition for thermosetting composite materials used in the energy transition?
After preliminary scoping, subsequent focusing on commonly used epoxy resins for wind turbine blades and hydrogen pressure vessels, and scaling up from lab-scale resin products to post-consumer materials, the following results are anticipated:
Clear end-of-life strategies for newly developed and existing thermosetting composites used for the energy transition.
High-quality recycling of thermosetting composites materials based on chemical recycling.