How a Record-Setting On a gray, foggy day in May 2021, a rust-kissed barge carried three shed-sized tidal turbines — each mounted on the points of a triangular steel frame — through New York City’s East River. Although the three turbines appeared to be identical, one was a doppelganger, built from an entirely new kind of resin that could help decarbonize even the most sustainable clean energy technologies, like tidal energy turbines.
But Murray and team designed a novel material, called a thermoplastic resin, that is not only easier to recycle, it is also better suited to survive the East River’s corrosive salt water — or any other promising tidal energy site. That means their new resin could be a win-win for decarbonization if the material can prove its potential out in the real world.partnered with tidal energy company Verdant Power through its Roosevelt Island Tidal Energy Project, which is funded by the U.S.
Now, back at the laboratory’s Colorado home, Murray and team have already cut their thermoplastic blades off the hub and sliced them into what they call coupons, which are rectangular bits as small as stamps or as big as magazines. Even if the blades survived the river, the team wants to find their breaking point — literally. For example, Murray and her crew plan to affix clamps to a coupon that will pull and pull and pull until the material snaps.
That is what she and the team are trying to find out now. “We really need to fully understand how the material performs before we can decide if it’s worth trying to adopt as an industry,” Murray said.“Now we get to do the investigative work,” said Paul Murdy, a mechanical engineer at NREL and Murray’s partner in chopping, snapping, and soaking novel marine energy materials, including the thermoplastic blades. The thermoplastic performed well thus far, Murdy said.
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