The EU Training Network for Resource Recovery through Enhanced Landfill Mining—A Review

Abstract

The “European Union Training Network for Resource Recovery Through Enhanced Landfill Mining (NEW-MINE)” was a European research project conducted between 2016 and 2020 to investigate the exploration of and resource recovery from landfills as well as the processing of the excavated waste and the valorization of the obtained waste fractions using thermochemical processes. This project yielded more than 40 publications ranging from geophysics via mechanical process engineering to ceramics, which have not yet been discussed coherently in a review publication. This article summarizes and links the NEW-MINE publications and discusses their practical applicability in waste management systems. Within the NEW-MINE project in a first step concentrates of specific materials (e.g., metals, combustibles, inert materials) were produced which might be used as secondary raw materials. In a second step, recycled products (e.g., inorganic polymers, functional glass-ceramics) were produced from these concentrates at the lab scale. However, even if secondary raw materials or recycled products could be produced at a large scale, it remains unclear if they can compete with primary raw materials or products from primary raw materials. Given the ambitions of transition towards a more circular economy, economic incentives are required to make secondary raw materials or recycled products from enhanced landfill mining (ELFM) competitive in the market.

Innovative Resource Recovery from Industrial Sites: A Critical Review

“…Enhanced landfill mining (ELFM) can be defined as an "innovative transformation technology" and is a promising emerging technology [73]. In the first instance, ELFM concentrates materials (metals, combustibles, and inert materials) that can be used as secondary raw materials [73]. These materials are then reused to produce valuable products, e.g., inorganic polymers.…”

“…Numerous studies found that the recycling avenues for inorganic-non-metallic fractions are more challenging with low application aggregate as the preferred route [75,76]. Additionally, the combustible fraction is predominantly disposed of through traditional methods, e.g., incineration, which the supplier must pay for rather than obtaining revenue [73,77].…”

Geophysics in support of dynamic landfill management: Moving beyond the challenges

“…The solution: a robust integrated approach Building on the work done in the EU projects RAWFILL and NEW-MINE (e.g., Isunza Manrique et al, 2019;RAWFILL, 2021;Vollprecht et al, 2021), we propose an integrated approach to tackle the above-mentioned challenges for geophysical landfill resources evaluation in a consistent way. The broader aim is to contribute to the development of a standard workflow properly integrating geophysical and conventional site investigation methods to derive a combined conceptual site model-the standard tool in environmental site assessment-and resource distribution model (RDM)-the proposed tool for landfill resources evaluation.…”

Recovering metal(loids) and rare earth elements from closed landfill sites without excavation: Leachate recirculation opportunities and challenges

“…Enhanced Landfill Mining (ELFM) address the combined and integrated valorisation of distinct landfilled urban waste streams as both materials (Waste-to-Materials, WtM) and energy (Waste-to-Energy, WtE) while meeting the most stringent ecological and social criteria (Jones et al, 2013). ELFM provides an opportunity for combined resource recovery and reclamation of land while mitigating future environmental liabilities and remediation costs through excavation innovative transformation technologies (Jones et al, 2013;Esguerra et al, 2021;Vollprecht et al, 2021).…”