This is both production waste and End-of-life waste: wind turbine blades, profiles, pipes. Making a 1 to 1 mix with paper pulp and shredded plastics to get relatively constant calorific value. So this is a total output in the range of 28 kT; it is 4 trucks per day. Holcim Lägersdorf (150 km from Neocomp) is using the mix as raw material for its cement manufacturing operation. At Neocomp, composite parts are first crushed using large diameter heavy metal rolls. After mixing with the paper/plastic, particle size is then further reduced using a "sieve cross flow grinder": large steel chain is rotating at high speed, resulting regrind material pushed through holes in order or reach size consistency. During the grinding processes a water mist is sprayed on top of the regrind for avoiding too much dust in the air. As a consequence, the final product has 10 % water content. It is clearly a RENEWABLE VALUE FROM COMPOSITES – SMC BMC.
Our nine industry associations have commissioned SGS INTRON to prepare a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) report exploring the environmental impacts of treating End-of-Life (EoL) composites by co-processing in a cement facility.