Managing Supply Chain Complexity: Foresight for Wind Turbine Composite Waste

The emergence of wind energy as an integral global player has witnessed a rapid growth of wind farms. While wind energy in itself is a clean energy resource, the disposal of the projected wind turbine end-of-life composite waste is likely to present a monumental management challenge that requires fo...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Procedia CIRP 2018, Vol.69, p.938-943
Main Authors: Sultan, Al Amin Mohamed, Mativenga, Paul Tarisai, Lou, Eric
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Centre-of-Gravity Modelling
Composite Waste
Recycling Location
Supply Chain Complexity
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The emergence of wind energy as an integral global player has witnessed a rapid growth of wind farms. While wind energy in itself is a clean energy resource, the disposal of the projected wind turbine end-of-life composite waste is likely to present a monumental management challenge that requires foresight and planning. The aim of this research was to determine the overall volume and distribution of end-of-life wind turbine composite waste and develop new metrics and mathematical tools to identify possible recycling or remanufacturing centres. Geographically distributed waste data was modelled using the centre-of-gravity method with supply chain complexity analysis utilised to develop logic for the location of recycling centres. The research predicted a total volume of over 500,000 tons of wind turbine composite waste in the UK by 2048. This paper proposes the use of new metrics to measure the complexity of waste supply chain as an evidence-based rationale for identifying appropriate sites for recycling centres. The research presents possible new approaches in waste complexity within a supply chain network to enable the development of sustainable third-party processing centres.
ISSN:2212-8271
2212-8271
DOI:10.1016/j.procir.2017.11.027