EU associations confirm potential of cement coprocessing for EOL composites

Nine industry associations — Cefic UP/VE Sector Group, CEMBUREA, Epoxy Europe, EuCIA, the European Alliance for SMC BMC, European Boating Industry, Glass Fibre Europe, Tech-Fab Europe and WindEurope — have commissioned certification agency SGS Intron (Waardenburg, Netherlands) to prepare a life cycle assessment (LCA) report exploring the environmental impacts of treating end-of-life (EOL) composites via coprocessing in a cement facility.

The independent and peer-reviewed LCA report confirms the positive environmental impact of this EOL solution for glass fiber-reinforced thermoset composites, which are used in various applications, including the automotive, construction, wind and recreational boating sectors.

The report reveals that each ton of EOL composite waste treated in a cement facility saves up to 1 ton of CO₂ compared to traditional waste incineration methods. On the one hand, cement coprocessing avoids emissions from waste incineration (approximately 500¹ kilograms of CO₂ per ton of EOL composites. On the other hand, it reduces emissions from cement production by approximately 330 kilograms of CO₂ per ton of EOL composites, resulting in an average combined emission saving of 830 kilograms of CO₂.

In addition to CO₂ savings, the report notes that cement coprocessing offers two other significant benefits that reduce the environmental footprint of the cement industry:

• Less need for virgin raw materials by recovering the glass fiber fraction of EOL composites
• Reduced need for fossil energy sources by the efficient recovery of the energy content from the resin fraction.

With the publication of this report, these European associations call on decision-makers to recognize cement coprocessing as recycling process for its mineral fraction. This recognition would be highly beneficial, partners agree, accelerating the adoption of this existing solution to process EOL composites and foster the development of a sustainable waste collection system for these materials.

In addition, having such a collection system in place could pave the way for other circular technology solutions that currently lack the necessary waste stream visibility to attract the public and private investments needed for expansion.

A summary of the report can be found here. The full report and LCA software import files will be available to stakeholders on request by contacting EuCIA (contact@eucia.eu).

¹Above savings are weighted average for various compositions of EOL composites. Depending on the material composition, the actual saving can vary from 560 up to 1,130 kilograms CO₂.