TY - JOUR
T1 - Landfill mining: Development of a theoretical method for a preliminary estimate of the raw material potential of landfill sites
AU - Wolfsberger, T
AU - Nispel, Jörg
AU - Sarc, Renato
AU - Aldrian, Alexia
AU - Hermann, Robert
AU - Höllen, Daniel
AU - Pomberger, Roland
AU - Budischowsky, Andreas
AU - Ragossnig, Arne
PY - 2015/7/16
Y1 - 2015/7/16
N2 - In recent years, the rising need for raw materials by emerging economies (e.g. China) has led to a change in the availability of certain primary raw materials, such as ores or coal. The accompanying rising demand for secondary raw materials as possible substitutes for primary resources, the soaring prices and the global lack of specific (e.g. metallic) raw materials pique the interest of science and economy to consider landfills as possible secondary sources of raw materials. These sites often contain substantial amounts of materials that can be potentially utilised materially or energetically. To investigate the raw material potential of a landfill, boreholes and excavations, as well as subsequent hand sorting have proven quite successful. These procedures, however, are expensive and time consuming as they frequently require extensive construction measures on the landfill body or waste mass. For this reason, this article introduces a newly developed, affordable, theoretical method for the estimation of landfill contents. The article summarises the individual calculation steps of the method and demonstrates this using the example of a selected Austrian sanitary landfill. To assess the practicality and plausibility, the mathematically determined raw material potential is compared with the actual results from experimental studies of excavated waste from the same landfill (actual raw material potential).
AB - In recent years, the rising need for raw materials by emerging economies (e.g. China) has led to a change in the availability of certain primary raw materials, such as ores or coal. The accompanying rising demand for secondary raw materials as possible substitutes for primary resources, the soaring prices and the global lack of specific (e.g. metallic) raw materials pique the interest of science and economy to consider landfills as possible secondary sources of raw materials. These sites often contain substantial amounts of materials that can be potentially utilised materially or energetically. To investigate the raw material potential of a landfill, boreholes and excavations, as well as subsequent hand sorting have proven quite successful. These procedures, however, are expensive and time consuming as they frequently require extensive construction measures on the landfill body or waste mass. For this reason, this article introduces a newly developed, affordable, theoretical method for the estimation of landfill contents. The article summarises the individual calculation steps of the method and demonstrates this using the example of a selected Austrian sanitary landfill. To assess the practicality and plausibility, the mathematically determined raw material potential is compared with the actual results from experimental studies of excavated waste from the same landfill (actual raw material potential).
KW - environmental studies
KW - Landfill mining
KW - sorting analysis
KW - sanitary landfill,
KW - secondary raw materials
KW - biodegradability
KW - gas forecast model
KW - raw material potential
U2 - 10.1177/0734242X15590473
DO - 10.1177/0734242X15590473
M3 - Article
SN - 0734-242X
VL - 33
SP - 671
EP - 680
JO - Waste management & research
JF - Waste management & research
IS - 7
ER -