![]() As another example, a tracking system would allow recyclers to adjust or redesign recycling processes to achieve further productivity and quality gains. For example, as suggested above, such a tracking system would allow turbine owners, utilities, or certification organizations to determine whether blades have been recycled properly and to correlate each recycled blade and its raw material that can be used for feedstock for various products. Tracking the status of wind turbine blades in a recycling process is important for several reasons. The applicant has determined that these obstacles continue to inhibit the development of wind turbine blade recycling processes, partially because there is currently no system to efficiently track the status of blades after installation at a wind farm. One obstacle is that if a potentially viable recycling process is proposed, wind turbine owners and manufacturers have no reliable way to verify which of the blades have been properly recycled and where the recycled material originated, among other obstacles. ![]() With the growing importance of wind power in worldwide energy production, this problem will only get worse. See Liu et al., “Wind Turbine Blade Waste in 2050,” Waste Management, Vol. Despite previous efforts, experts have regarded wind turbine blades as “unrecyclable” and a problematic source of waste. Although the prospect of recycling wind turbine blades may be attractive and consistent with the notion of wind energy as a “green” power source, it has not previously been technically or economically feasible. This generates a problem for blade manufacturers, utilities, and other entities that may wish to keep decommissioned blades out of landfills. There are many companies producing blades for this growing number of turbines, and these blades need to be periodically replaced if they wear out or become damaged. Wind energy, and more specifically the use of wind turbines to generate electricity, is an exploding market. 10, 2017, the disclosures of which are hereby expressly incorporated by reference herein in their entirety. 12, 2018, which claims the benefit of U.S. This application is a continuation of International Application No. Correlating each wind turbine blade to a quantity of output material provides several advantages, including various certifications of the material for uses with restricted or otherwise controlled products and materials, cost savings, and other advantages. ![]() In some embodiments, the method includes sectioning the wind turbine blades, crushing the wind turbine blade sections, tracking the progress of each blade through the process, and loading output materials into a suitable transportation vessel. The recycling process is performed while tracking the progress and location of each wind turbine blade such that the direct source of the output material may be determined. Generally described, the methods disclosed herein for recycling fiber composite source objects, such as wind turbine blades, include converting a whole wind turbine blade to an output material state that is useful for manufacturing other products, such as those used in construction of buildings, packaging, raw materials, and pellets, among other products. ![]()
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