Fiberglass reinforced plastic (GFRP) is a strong and durable composite material used in everything from aircraft parts to windmill blades. However, the same qualities that make it strong enough for use in many different applications also make it difficult to dispose of – as a result, most GFRP waste ends up in landfills when it reaches the end of its useful life.

FRP is upcycled into silicon carbide through FCR. a, Schematic diagram of FRP upcycling during FCR process. Illustration from the first step: Picture of discarded GFRP disassembled and shredded from the Dewar. Illustrations from the second step: Pictures of samples in quartz tubes before (i) and during (ii) the FCR reaction. b, Current curve with an input voltage of 150 V and a duration of 1 s during FCR. c, Real-time temperature curves at input voltages of 100 V (blue) and 150 V (red) recorded with an infrared thermometer. The thermometer's detection range is 1000 to 3000°C. d, Gibbs free energy change (ΔG) versus temperature at different silica and carbon ratios. The horizontal dashed line indicates that ΔG is zero. Source: Natural Sustainability (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41893-024-01287-w

         Rice University researchers and their collaborators have developed a new, energy-efficient upcycling method to convert fiberglass reinforced plastic (GFRP) into Silicon carbide is widely used in semiconductors, sandpaper and other products.