EuCIA is organising a LinkedIn Live event focusing on the EOLIAN project in partnership with Ilkay Özkisaoglu, creator of the Composites Lounge community.
EOLIAN (Bio-based, repairable and recyclable vitrimer composites and advanced sensors for highly reliable, sustainable wind blades) is an EU-funded project developing a new generation of wind turbine blades manufactured from repairable and recyclable vitrimer composite materials, with integrated sensors to enable structural health monitoring.
The Project Live Talk, From Innovation to Circularity: How EOLIAN is Redefining Wind Turbine Blades, takes place on 2nd July at 11:00-12:30 CEST and features an introduction from EuCIA’s President, Professor Roberto Frassine. Add to your calendar
About EOLIAN
The wind energy industry is committed to enhancing its sustainability by reducing environmental impacts over the complete life cycle of a wind turbine. In a circular economy approach this includes extending the lifespan of wind turbines, improving their recyclability, and minimising waste. The EU has set ambitious growth targets for wind energy, and as more wind farms are installed new materials and technologies that allow blades to operate reliably for longer, that can be repaired more easily, and reused or recycled at the end of their service life, are critical.
EOLIAN blades will use vitrimers, a new class of polymer that enables recyclable composite materials. Vitrimers also exhibit ‘self-healing’ properties, which will make it easier to repair minor blade damage. The project is exploring the use of novel bio-based vitrimers, combined with natural fibre (basalt) reinforcements to manufacture highly sustainable composites.
Vitrimers are both repairable and recyclable, making them interesting candidates for wind turbine blade manufacture. (Picture © Proplast / EOLIAN project.)
Recyclable sensors and a heating system will be integrated into the EOLIAN blade. The sensors will allow structural health monitoring of the blade and enable the detection and fast repair of damage, while the heater can be activated to prevent issues caused by the build-up of ice on the blades. These innovations will contribute to extending the blade’s lifespan and ensuring its structural integrity, safety and reliable performance, leading to reduced operation and maintenance costs.
EOLIAN will demonstrate these technologies by manufacturing a sensor-assisted vitrimer composite blade of 12 m in length. All the design phases will be supported by an advanced multiscale modelling to ensure the highest performance level, and by LCA-based environmental analysis to guarantee the most sustainable approach.
The EOLIAN Project Live Talk
This LinkedIn Live brings together leading experts from the EOLIAN consortium, covering the full value chain from materials innovation to industrial deployment and circularity assessment:
- Marta Zaccone, Transfer Technology Project Manager, Proplast (Italy);
- Cristina Monteserin, Researcher, TEKNIKER (Spain);
- Andrea Minigher, Business Development, AEP Polymers (Italy);
- Marco Longana – Associate Professor, Politecnico di Milano (Italy);
- Daniel Paul, Research Fellow, Brunel Composites Centre (UK);
- Fotini Petrakli, Sustainability Manager, IRES (Belgium);
- Claudia Vázquez Sanz – Technical Procurement & Blades Engineering, Norvento TECHnPower (Spain);
- Zeynep Korkmaz, Senior R&D Specialist, Zorlu Enerji (Türkiye).
The event will feature an introduction to composites circularity by Professor Roberto Frassine of EuCIA, a panel round where each expert introduces their role in EOLIAN and the potential impact of their work, a ‘call to action’ round where each speaker poses a question for the audience, and a Q&A.
Why attend?
Whether you work in wind energy, composites, recycling, sustainability, LCA, or circular economy strategy, this session gives you an opportunity to explore the future of wind turbine blade design and circular composites.
