On 4 October WindEurope CEO Giles Dickson visited Holcim’s Lägerdorf plant in Germany, together with Claudia Grotz of Siemens Gamesa and Chair of WindEurope’s Sustainability Working Group. They met the Geocycle team who are using wind turbines blade waste to generate heat and ash to help make cement. It’s currently the only such cement plant in Europe that’s using blade waste.

The organic content of blade waste is recovered as thermal energy while the mineral fraction of the waste is integrated as ash in the matrix of the cement clinker the plant produces.  This reduces the carbon footprint of cement production and makes it more resource efficient.  This is because the blade waste substitutes (partially) for fossil fuels in the incineration process and for other materials in the clinker production process.  One tonne of blade waste reduces CO2 emissions by 110 kg and saves 461 kg of raw materials.

Source: WindEurope CEO visits German cement plant that’s running on blade waste | WindEurope