Just about everything wears out eventually and needs replacing. In the corrosion industry, a question that is getting more attention recently is, what to do when FRP tanks and pipes wear out? The most common disposal method for tanks and pipe is cutting them up and sending them to the local landfill. This method is getting increasingly difficult and costly. As a result, reuse and recycling options are under development and some are already available.
In terms of volume, the boat and windmill industries contribute more than any when it comes to disposal of unneeded fiberglass items, but some of their recycling technology can possibly be used for FRP tanks and pipes as well. This blog post can only touch briefly on the topic, but here are the main ways of reusing or recycling old FRP tanks and pipes as of today:
- Repurposing, such as using old chemical tanks for fire water
- Grinding up into milled fibers for use in the manufacture of other products, such as outdoor furniture or architectural pieces
- Grinding up into milled fibers for use as reinforcement in cement
- Burning as fuel in incinerators, possibly in power generation plants
- Chemically breaking down to original base elements (glass reinforcement and resin) for reuse in new products
Repurposing is clearly the winner when reducing environmental impact is the criteria. Recycling methods involve trade offs but so far grinding old FRP into milled fibers seems to be the most viable. Diamond Fiberglass has taken steps to reduce our environmental impact during fabrication of FRP products, but we are also interested in learning about recycling after the asset life has ended and will continue to monitor these emerging technologies.
For further information about FRP tanks, pipe and services, please visit diamondfiberglass.com or diamondservices.com.