Arkema has won the 2020 Pierre Potier Prize for its Elium liquid thermoplastic resin for wind turbines.
Arkema awarded 2020 Pierre Potier Prize
The production of wind energy, both on and off shore, is expected to play a major role in the transition towards low-carbon energies.
Developed in Arkema’s research centre in Lacq (64), Elium liquid thermoplastic resin is the first ever resin that enables the manufacture of fully recyclable wind turbine blades. Recycling, whether mechanical or chemical, is a considerable asset in the lifecycle of wind turbines. The parts are first ground and then heated to depolymerise the resin so that it can be separated from the fibre filler. After purification and reformulation, a new liquid thermoplastic resin is obtained with the same characteristics as the virgin resin.
Guillaume Clédat, Global Sales and Dvelopment Director, said: “We are immensely proud to receive the Pierre Potier Prize, which commends an innovative and sustainable solution for wind turbine blades at the end of their lifecycle … With our Elium thermoplastic resin, we have provided a solution to the environmental challenges of wind power by making it a part of a circular economy approach.”
Arkema is thus at the heart of the ZEBRA (Zero wastE Blade ReseArch) consortium led by IRT Jules Verne, an ambitious project that aims to create the first recyclable wind turbine blade.
Beyond the wind power market, Elium resin enables the production of a wide variety of fibreglass or carbon-fibre-composite thermoplastic parts of all sizes and with complex shapes. Its economic benefit comes from two major characteristics: its ease of implementation with short hardening times at room temperature, and its compatibility with the numerous technologies for processing existing thermosetting resins, thus limiting investments for fabricators already equipped with these machines and opening up a vast range of developments in many sectors such as transportation, construction and the boating industry.