TY - JOUR

T1 - Landfill mining: Resource potential of Austrian landfills – Evaluation and quality assessment of recovered municipal solid waste by chemical analyses

AU - Wolfsberger, Tanja

AU - Aldrian, Alexia

AU - Sarc, Renato

AU - Hermann, Robert

AU - Höllen, Daniel

AU - Budischowsky, Andreas

AU - Zöscher, Andreas

AU - Ragossnig, Arne

AU - Pomberger, Roland

PY - 2015

Y1 - 2015

N2 - Since the need for raw materials in countries undergoing industrialisation (like China) is rising, the availability of metal and fossil fuelenergy resources (like ores or coal) has changed in recent years. Landfill sites can contain considerable amounts of recyclables andenergy-recoverable materials, therefore, landfill mining is an option for exploiting dumped secondary raw materials, saving primarysources. For the purposes of this article, two sanitary landfill sites have been chosen for obtaining actual data to determine the resourcepotential of Austrian landfills. To evaluate how pretreating waste before disposal affects the resource potential of landfills, the firstlandfill site has been selected because it has received untreated waste, whereas mechanically–biologically treated waste was dumpedin the second. The scope of this investigation comprised: (1) waste characterisation by sorting analyses of recovered waste; and (2)chemical analyses of specific waste fractions for quality assessment regarding potential energy recovery by using it as solid recoveredfuels. The content of eight heavy metals and the net calorific values were determined for the chemical characterisation tests.

AB - Since the need for raw materials in countries undergoing industrialisation (like China) is rising, the availability of metal and fossil fuelenergy resources (like ores or coal) has changed in recent years. Landfill sites can contain considerable amounts of recyclables andenergy-recoverable materials, therefore, landfill mining is an option for exploiting dumped secondary raw materials, saving primarysources. For the purposes of this article, two sanitary landfill sites have been chosen for obtaining actual data to determine the resourcepotential of Austrian landfills. To evaluate how pretreating waste before disposal affects the resource potential of landfills, the firstlandfill site has been selected because it has received untreated waste, whereas mechanically–biologically treated waste was dumpedin the second. The scope of this investigation comprised: (1) waste characterisation by sorting analyses of recovered waste; and (2)chemical analyses of specific waste fractions for quality assessment regarding potential energy recovery by using it as solid recoveredfuels. The content of eight heavy metals and the net calorific values were determined for the chemical characterisation tests.

KW - Landfill mining, resource potential, pretreatment, quality assessment, sorting analyses, chemical analyses, heavy metal content, solid recovered fuel

M3 - Article

JO - Waste management & research

JF - Waste management & research

SN - 0734-242X

IS - DOI: 10.1177/0734242X15600051

ER -