Cradle-to-gate sustainability assessment of centralised versus decentralised additive manufacturing for wind turbine blade mould production

Abstract

Additive Manufacturing (AM) has emerged as a transformative technology in the production of wind turbine blade moulds, enabling greater design flexibility, mass customisation, and on-demand responsiveness. This study presents a comparative environmental sustainability assessment of centralised and decentralised AM supply chains for wind turbine blade mould manufacturing across four European regions centred on Luxembourg. A cradle-to-gate Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) framework is employed to quantify carbon footprint (CFP) and water footprint (WFP) across the stages of raw material acquisition, manufacturing, and transportation. The turbine blade moulds are produced using two composite materials: ABS+20%CF and ABS+20%CF, both selected for their mechanical performance and printability in AM applications. Geospatial routing data obtained from third-party mapping and navigation platforms are utilised to estimate regional transport distances and routes, thereby enabling a spatially explicit evaluation of environmental trade-offs between centralised and decentralised supply chain configurations.