What shall we do with
the End-of-Life vessel ?
John Summerscales
Advanced Composites Manufacturing Centre
University of Plymouth
... with input from Miggy Singh (UoP SMSE),
Ken Wittamore (Triskel Consultants Limited), and
Sue Halliwell (NetComposites)
Political drivers
The European Community aims to be the most “sustainable”
federation of countries in the world:
• Waste Framework Directive (WFD)
• Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC)
also pressure from the environmental lobby
• End-of-Life Vehicle (ELV) for cars
• Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive
• ?? End-of-Life Vessel ??
Commercial drivers
• Waste minimisation is a basic management philosophy
to achieve a more profitable business
– cost savings thro’ improved resource efficiency
– compliance reduces litigation costs
– risk reduction improves investor confidence
– eco-friendly is good for customer relations
End-of-life (EoL) vessel
Annette Roux (2007)
President of FIN
(French boatbuilding federation) and
President of Groupe Beneteau, said:
industry has worked hard on
techniques to destroy old fibreglass hulls,
instead of owners abandoning them,
“but so far we are having difficulty finding any:
they are in good condition
and sailors continue to use them”
RNLI Challenge 2015
• Over the next ten years, 86 lifeboats will be decommissioned
– 12 Tyne class
• steel hull, aluminium superstructure, no composite
– 37 Mersey class .. introduced 1988
• fibre-reinforced epoxy hull and superstructure @ 7.8 tonnes/boat
– 37 Trent class .. introduced 1994
• fibre-reinforced epoxy hull and superstructure @ 18 tonnes/boat
• Total = 954 tonnes of composite
• RNLI seeking novel solutions for:
– reuse, repurpose or recycling
– future design for disassembly, reuse and recycling
USS Guardian
FRP sheathed oak-and-fir wooden hull
aground on coral reef
Sulu Sea (Phillipines)
17-Jan-2013
EuCIA: European Composites
Industry Association
• Competitive Composites:
Sustainability and Recycling Challenges,
Brussels, 04 May 2011
– debate report:
http://www.eucia.org/files/
EuCIA%20Debate%20Report%2004052011.pdf
Size of problem
• 95% of boats <24m long are thermoset FRP
• will not consider thermoplastic composites here
• production of 115 000 tonnes per year in Europe
• marine composites = ~7% of total composites market
• typically hulls >> cars, so need cutting before crushing
• some common issues with civil engineering
• reduce size for cost-effective transport to process site
• inherently tough, so high energy consumption
Recycling hierarchy
• waste reduction > reuse > recovery > disposal
–
–
–
–
–
manufacture: lean materials usage
reuse: vessel – components – materials
recover: fibres – pyrolysis etc for feedstock
disposal: scuttle – incinerate – compost if bio-based
landfill as a last resort
• beware: toxic compounds in
• bilges, engines, lubricants, etc and
• anti-fouling coatings
Waste reduction in manufacture
• Why buy it, then throw it out ?
– analyse what leaves the plant in skips and drains
• Why not recycle waste ?
– small volumes
– only small specialist markets
e.g. carbon fibre prepreg > jewellery
– no clear economic benefits
• Italy: ENA eco-design & LCA criteria
ELB FRP waste to secondary raw material
Waste reduction
by re-use
• Second-hand market, e.g.
• HMS Wilton now Essex Yacht Club HQ
• HMS Bicester to Greek Navy HS Europa
• Every naval architect has his own design
– could multiple designs use standard hatch cover
– then a strong second hand market might develop
Image from Essex Yacht Club homepage
Waste reduction by re-use
(repair or component replacement)
• Team Phillips and US SSN 711 "San Francisco"
Images from
http://www.nmmc.co.uk/index.php?page=News_Centre&newsid=18 (left)
and http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1026891.stm (centre and right)
http://navysite.de/ssn/ssn711_6.jpg (left),
http://www.subcommittee.com/cgibin/ikonboard.cgi?s=0584a1450d8de1bca4f7443b07a0f89f;act=ST;f=27;t=115;st=20 (centre)
and http://www.subcommittee.com/cgibin/ikonboard.cgi?s=49d5aa6747d28724559df35b205650a3;act=ST;f=27;t=115;st=10 (right)
Waste reduction
by material recovery
Four classes:
• primary: to materials of equivalent performance
• secondary: to materials of inferior performance
• tertiary:
to chemicals and fuel
• quaternary: to energy
Waste reduction
by material recovery
• Ground GFRP can replace ~15% SMC or BMC
• Finland* (state-driven initiative with recycling company)
– ~1000 small open craft recycled to date
• France* (six competing companies)
– ~250 dinghies <6m treated so far
• Italy* (Materials Recovery Platform ATECO ID37)
Data* from EuCIA report
Wasste reduction by
material recovery (solvolysis)
• EURECOMP FP7 project (2009-2012)
• Solvolysis = sub- or super-critical thermochemical
depolymerisation in water (or CO2?)
– clean recovered fibres with little residue
but may need sizing agents replaced
– liquid fraction
contains e.g. resin monomers and benzoic acid
JEC Composites magazine, 2011, (65), 24-25
Waste reduction by
materials recovery (CFRP)
carbon fibres not degraded during thermal recovery
• Recycled Carbon Fibre Limited (was Milled Carbon)
www.recycledcarbonfibre.com
• TSB CR&D FibreCycle programme (2007-2010)
www.fibrecycleproject.org.uk
• random CFRP ηo=0.375
Vf=20%
Young’s modulus = 18 GPa
• woven GRFP
ηo=0.5
Vf=50%
Young’s modulus = 18 GPa
Ef=240 GPa
Ef=72 GPa
Waste disposal (recycling?)
• France
– GPIC energy recovery in cement kilns
– costs for grinding and kiln use > landfill
• Germany
– Zajons Logistik and Holcim AG
– 60kt Turbine blades shredded then to cement kilns (~15GJ/tonne)
– ash and slag incorporated into cement
• Norway
–
–
–
–
mechanical recycling
energy recovery in cement kilns
pyrolysis
chemical recycling via solvolysis (GjenKomp project)
Waste disposal (incineration)
• thermoset resins char rather than burn ?
• tales of boatyard blazes with fuel still in GRP tanks
• GRP in incineration needs to
be well-mixed with other waste
• charge for GRP ~£120-150/t
vs £30/t for ordinary wastes
Up Helly Aa (not FRP)
If all else fails, then scuttle ?
>35 m (100 ft) not disturbed by storms
>75 m (250 ft) remain in place & inhabited by fish for 30-40 years
may be appropriate for
use in coastal defences against sea-level rise
recreational diving (e.g. RN frigate HMS Scylla in Whitesand Bay)
requires:
• cleaning bilges, anti-fouling
• attention to anchoring
• LCA to justify post-use management
• convince stakeholders of positive benefit
• beware of scour
HMS Scylla
Image from:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/devon/news_features
/images/scylla/scylla_bang180.jpg
Effects of scour
• abrasion by pebbles and/or sand leads to
polymer micro-particles
– particles accumulate toxins from seawater
– high toxin levels on particle surfaces
– particles ingested by marine animals
– microparticles can enter circulatory system of
e.g. mussels
If everything else fails,
then landfill
• UK Waste Classification Scheme
– hazardous, non-hazardous or inert
– composites classified as non-hazardous, under
“biodegradable wastes and other non-special waste”
• Costs of landfill rising each year
Life Cycle Assessment
To quantify environmental impacts need analysis of
Environmental Impact Classification Factors (EICF):
Azapagic et al
ISO/TR 14047:2003(E)
European Environment Agency
Acidification Potential (AP)
Aquatic Toxicity Potential (ATP)
Eutrophication Potential (EP)
Acidification
Ecotoxicity
Eutrophication/Nitrification
Acidification
Ecotoxicity
Eutrophication
Global Warming Potential (GWP)
Climate change
Climate change and global warming
Human Toxicity Potential (HTP)
Human toxicity
Human toxicity
Non-Renewable/Abiotic Resource Depletion (NRADP)
Depletion of abiotic/biotic resources
Ozone Depletion Potential (ODP)
Stratospheric ozone depletion
Stratospheric ozone depletion
Photochemical Oxidants Creation Potential (POCP)
Photo-oxidant formation
Photochemical ozone formation (summer smog)
BS8905 adds “Land Use”
also consider general nuisance of ... dust, noise and odour ?
Conclusions
we need to
• develop an effective method for reducing
end-of-life components to manageable size
• consider vessel end-of-life considerations
before political solutions are imposed
• undertake life cycle assessments to support
any claims made for environmental benefit
if more depth required ...