Interdisciplinary research project - the teams "Sustainable Construction" (Faculty of Civil Engineering) and "Composite Circularity Lab" (Faculty of ING) are jointly researching sustainable solutions for future building materials and the recycling of old wind turbine rotor blades.
On 31 March 2026, the kick-off meeting of the SAB-funded research project "Process for the reuse of used composite components in construction" (ReComCret) took place at HTWK Leipzig. Through interdisciplinary cooperation between the fields of wind energy, construction production and lightweight construction, ReComCret aims to develop a system-oriented, holistic approach for the production and reuse of EoL composite components made from wind turbine blades (WTB) for applications in the construction industry in the form of glass fibre concrete and develop them into a market-ready product.
Over the next few years, the research groups "Sustainable Construction", led by Prof. Klaus Holschemacher (Faculty of Civil Engineering) and "Composite Circularity Lab", Prof. Robert Böhm (Faculty of Engineering), will work together with the regional companies Betonwerk Oschatz GmbH and Caruso Umweltservice GmbH to develop strategies for the reuse of fibre-reinforced composites made from old wind turbine rotor blades at the end of their service life (end-of-life, EoL). The EoL materials are to be fed into a second life cycle, the so-called 2nd Life. The aim is to provide materials for low- and zero-emission buildings, so-called (nearly) zero-emission buildings.
"On the one hand, we want to preserve the structural integrity of the EoL materials as far as possible and reuse elements such as the rotor blade belts, the so-called spar caps, e.g. in façade elements," explains Philipp Johst, research group leader at the CCL.
Dr Alexander Kahnt, head of the "Sustainable Construction" research group, adds: "A second strategy is to produce glass fibre recyclates and, in addition to improving the mechanical properties of concrete, to reduce CO2 emissions in the concrete sector."
The project is being funded with 1.35 million euros by the SAB in co-financing with the EU and will run until April 2028.
