University of Maine Wins $500,000 in DOE Turbine Recycling Prize
The Orono team is turning shredded wind blade waste into filler for plastic used in large-scale 3D printing.
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The University of Maine was among six teams nationally that won the second phase of the U.S. Department of Energy's Wind Turbine Materials Recycling Prize, the agency said when it named the winners in September 2024.
Each of the six teams received $500,000 in cash, along with a voucher worth $100,000 that can be redeemed for technical help from DOE national laboratories. The six awards totaled $3.6 million.
The Maine entry grinds up retired wind turbine blades and uses the resulting material as a low-cost reinforcement and filler in plastic feedstock for large-scale 3D printing, according to DOE.
The competition, run by DOE's Integrated Energy Systems Office, was launched in July 2023 with $5.1 million in funding. Its aim is to build domestic recycling capacity for two materials common in turbines: fiber-reinforced composites and rare earth elements.
In an earlier round announced in January 2024, DOE picked 20 first-phase winners from 15 states, each awarded $75,000. The University of Maine project also advanced from that round. DOE has since listed the program as no longer active.
This story was first reported by Department of Energy (.gov).
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