Follow the Group's Financial information at 30 September 2020 - On Friday, November 13th 2020 from 9:00 am (Paris time).
Share :
The average working life of a wind turbine is 30 years. Conscious of the challenges of recycling, energy generators are already developing their dismantling strategies. National legislation and European directives are also addressing the same issues in parallel. Given the urgency of the situation, what effective solutions do we have for recycling the steel masts, lubricating oils and resin/fibre turbine blades?
Reciclalia provides a unique and comprehensive solution for recycling decommissioned wind turbine blades. How? This Spanish start-up has developed two powerfully innovative technologies. Its Constrictor service cuts and shreds the structure on site. Its CRS technology uses a thermal reactor to separate the glass and carbon fibres by extracting the resin. The cleaned materials are then resold to the energy, transport and construction industries. This ingenious process responds effectively to an immediate need for waste management, and avoids the need to extract new raw materials from nature.
The qualities of the project were awarded by the Grand Jury with the “Environmental impact” mention.
Category: CO2 Neutral Territories
Alfonso Bernabé, David Romero and Alejandro Álvarez have their own distinct areas of expertise: economics and international trade, environmental management and industrial technical engineering respectively. The team works closely with FIDAMC (the Spanish foundation for the research, development and application of composite materials) on researching and developing products made from recycled materials.
Follow them on Twitter
Reciclalia has its origins in considerations around the essential values of glass and carbon fibres. Valued for their light weight and strength, both materials are used in many key sectors of the economy, including wind turbine blades, car bodywork and aircraft wings. But at the end of their working lives, many of these products end up in landfill. But in reality, this ‘waste’ is a really valuable resource. Given that there was no established processing and management system for composite waste, we decided to investigate the possibilities further. Our technology was born out of several years of engineering work, and has now been developed to the point of proven effectiveness. In just 1 hour, we process composite fibre casings that would have taken nearly 1,000 years to decompose in nature.
At the beginning of 2020, we were finalists in the Sustainable Industrial Challenge in the Netherlands, and it was an enormous honour to have been selected from among 250 innovative companies from around the world. We’ve also recently joined the InnoEnergy Acceleration Programme following our selection by the European Institute of Technology & Innovation (EIT). Our membership will boost our commercial strategy and help us to raise the funding needed to accelerate the growth of our company in Europe.
Last year, we were able to showcase our start-up to secondary school students as part of a science week. The environment, sustainable development and the circular economy are all appealing concepts for today’s rising generations. We were pleasantly surprised by their interest, and they asked a great many questions. They were so interested to chat with us that they actually missed their break time. That kind of reaction gives hope to science in its quest to build a better world.
Reciclalia is revolutionising the management and treatment of composite waste. Recycling materials avoids the need to consume new raw materials. Recycling also creates a virtuous circular economy, because the fibres we recover are fed back into the market as new materials. And recycling completes the life cycle of materials. The result of that is that we have the potential to minimise our carbon footprint by reducing the greenhouse gas emissions of the composite materials industry by 25%.
This AI robot travels through water pipes to detect faults and makes it possible to organise repair of damaged sections before a leak occurs.
This small, flexible, paper-thin battery is revolutionising the market for the button batteries used in small disposable electronic devices. This smart-designed, economical and non-toxic solution is created from bio-sourced materials.
Chrysalis creates a circular carbon economy! Developed by the Earthwake start-up, this machine uses pyrolysis technology to recycle plastic waste into petrol, diesel and gas. This intentionally low-tech solution is also mobile and energy self-sufficient.
eBikePort is shaping new horizons for our cities. This self-powered multi-functional charging station serves electric bikes, scooters and smartphones, offers free WiFi and secure lockers for personal property.
Self-powered from the magnetic field generated by overhead transmission lines, these smart sensor devices can analyse the power supply grid to detect problems and considerably reduce maintenance costs, avoiding the use of millions of batteries.
Small and easily attached to any tools, InBolt modules record the movements of technicians working on industrial production lines, enabling them to apply real-time quality control.
Encouraging short food supply chains and the local economy: that’s Le Chemin des Mûres’s mission. This start-up has developed an app for food producers and suppliers. Its aim: to facilitate and reduce transport costs by pooling deliveries.
The Octopus Lab SaaS solution forecasts indoor air pollution levels, and controls building ventilation systems accordingly. The resulting air quality is guaranteed, even during spikes in CO2!
Its patented technologies make this a timely solution for dismantling and recycling the composite materials contained in decommissioned wind turbine blades. The resulting glass and carbon fibres are reused by industry to promote a circular economy.
Transition-One converts the petrol and diesel engines of city cars and vans to electric in just 4 hours. Low carbon, efficient and affordable, this technology delivers a sustainable mobility transition solution for private motorists and fleet operators.
This mobile battery recovers waste heat from industrial processes and recycles it in the form of heating or cooling wherever it is needed. An effective way of boosting the contribution made by renewables and reducing CO₂ emissions.
The intuitive tablet-equipped WeeM soundproof booth is closing the digital divide by making online official procedures accessible to everyone.
Share :
