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

VL - 33

SP - 671

EP - 680

JO - Waste management & research

JF - Waste management & research

SN - 0734-242X

IS - 7

ER -