Browsing by Author "Griffiths, Zoe"

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    A decision support tool for enhanced landfill mining
    (Cranfield University, 2018-05-03 11:13) Coulon, Frederic; Wagland, Stuart; Griffiths, Zoe
    Enhanced Landfill Mining has great potential to reduce the negative effects of landfills on both the environment and human health, to reclaim valuable land and provide a new source of raw materials. However, uncertainties in economic feasibility and environmental and social outcomes act as a bottleneck to its widespread uptake. Here, we present a decision support tool which aims to reduce these uncertainties by assisting site operators in assessing the economic, environmental and social consequences of a proposed project, while also evaluating the best technology train to use and the amount of rare earth elements present. Such a tool is the first of its kind and we propose its use as an initial assessment aid prior to more complex modelling of project feasibility in order to increase the uptake of enhanced landfill mining practices in the field of sustainable waste management.
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    Assessing the opportunities of landfill mining as a source of critical raw materials in Europe
    (Eurowaste, 2017-10-16) Särkkä, H.; Kaartinen, T.; Hannus, Esa; Hirvonen, S.; Valjus, Tuire; Lerssi, J.; Dino, G. A.; Piergiorgio, R.; Griffiths, Zoe; Wagland, Stuart; Coulon, Frederic
    Many of the metals in landfill constitute valuable and scarce natural resources. It has already been recognised that the recovery of these elements is critical for the sustainability of a number of industries. Arsenic (which is an essential part of the production of transistors and LEDs) is predicted to run out sometime in the next five to 50 years if consumption continues at the present rate. Nickel used for anything involving stainless steel and platinum group metals (PGMs) used in catalytic converters, fertilisers and others are also identified as critical materials (CM) to the EU economy at risk of depletion However, despite the increasing demand, none of this supply is supported by recycling. This is due to the high cost of recovery from low concentrations when compared to conventional mining. As demonstrated by the two pilot case studies of this study, mining landfill sites only for their metals content is not expected to be financially viable. However, other opportunities such as Waste-derived fuels from excavated materials exist which if combined , form the concept of ‘enhanced landfill mining’. have the potential to be highly energetic. The energy potential is comparable to the levels of energy of Refuse-Derived Fuels (RDF) produced from non-landfilled wastes.
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    A decision support tool for enhanced landfill mining
    (CISA PUBLISHER an imprint of EUROWASTE Srl, 2018-03-31) Pastre, Guillaume; Griffiths, Zoe; Val, Javier; Tasiu, Abubakar Muhammad; Camacho-Dominguez, Erika Valeria; Wagland, Stuart; Coulon, Frederic
    Enhanced Landfill Mining has great potential to reduce the negative effects of landfills on both the environment and human health, to reclaim valuable land and provide a new source of raw materials. However, uncertainties in economic feasibility and environmental and social outcomes act as a bottleneck to its widespread uptake. Here, we present a decision support tool (DST) which aims to reduce these uncertainties by assisting site operators in assessing the economic, environmental and social consequences of a proposed project, while also evaluating the best technology train to use and the amount of rare earth elements (REE) present. Such a tool is the first of its kind and we propose its use as an initial assessment aid prior to more complex modelling of project feasibility in order to increase the uptake of enhanced landfill mining practices in the field of sustainable waste management.
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    Exploiting secondary raw materials from extractive waste facilities: A case study
    (Unknown, 2018-02-06) Dino, Giovanna Antonella; Rossetti, Piergiorgio; Lorenzi, Alessio; Mister, Ivan; Cazzaniga, Alberto; Coulon, Frederic; Griffiths, Zoe; Wagland, Stuart
    In recent years, resource scarcity has emphasised a need to transition from a linear to a circular flow of resources. Securing supplies of critical and secondary raw materials (CRM/SRM) for the manufacturing industry is at the forefront of industrial challenges, especially in Europe, USA and Asia. A key step towards achieving resource efficiency, is to recover these materials from anthropogenic waste deposits, such as urban landfill sites and extractive waste facilities. This means breaking away from the traditional linear use of resources to a closed-loop approach that allows maximum recovery of resources from waste. The management of extractive waste deposits and resource recovery is closely linked to the concept of urban mining. In this paper, we present a case study illustrating the feasibility of recovering SRM from EW facilities and discuss the pros and cons of undertaking such activities.
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    Investigation of municipal solid waste (MSW) and industrial landfills as a potential source of secondary raw materials
    (Cranfield University, 2018-05-03 12:32) Coulon, Frederic; Wagland, Stuart; Griffiths, Zoe
    in-depth characterisation of a number of selected municipal and industrial landfill pilot sites as well as mining disposal sites have been assessed for enhanced landfill mining opportunities
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    Investigation of municipal solid waste (MSW) and industrial landfills as a potential source of secondary raw materials
    (2018-03-31) Särkkä, Heikki; Kaartinen, Tommi; Hannus, Esa; Hirvonen, Sami; Valjus, Tuire; Lerssi, Jouni; Dino, Giovanna A.; Rossetti, Piergiorgio; Griffiths, Zoe; Wagland, Stuart T.; Coulon, Frederic
    Many of the secondary raw materials (SRM) in landfills constitute valuable and scarce natural resources. It has already been recognised that the recovery of these elements is critical for the sustainability of a number of industries and SRM recov¬ery from anthropogenic waste deposits represents a significant opportunity. In this study, the characterisation of the different waste fractions and the amount of SRM that can potentially be recovered from two landfill sites in Finland is presented. The first site was a municipal solid waste (MSW) landfill site and it was specifically in¬vestigated for its metals, SRM, plastics, wood, paper, and cardboard content as well as its fine fraction (<20 mm). The second site was an industrial landfill site contain¬ing residual wastes from industrial processes including 1) aluminium salt slag from refining process of aluminium scrap and 2) shredding residues from automobiles, household appliances and other metals containing waste. This site was investigated for its metals and SRM recovery potential as well as its fine fraction. Results suggest that the fine fraction offers opportunities for metal (Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn) and SRM extraction and recovery from both landfill site types while the chemical composition of the industrial waste landfill offered greater opporutinity as it was comparable to typical aluminium salt slags. Nevertheless, the concentrations of rare earth metals (REE) and other valuable elements were low even in comparison with the concentra¬tions found in the Earth’s crust. Therefore mining landfill sites only for their metals or SRM content is not expected to be financially viable. However, other opportunities, such as waste-derived fuels from excavated materials especially at MSW landfill sites, still exists and fosters the application and feasibility of landfill mining.
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    Landfill mining from extractive waste facilities: The importance of a correct site characterisation and evaluation of the potentialities. A case study from Italy
    (Elsevier, 2018-05-01) Dino, Giovanna Antonella; Rossetti, Piergiorgio; Perotti, Luigi; Alberto, Walter; Sarkka, Heikki; Coulon, Frederic; Wagland, Stuart; Griffiths, Zoe; Rodeghiero, Franco
    Raw materials (RM) and critical raw materials (CRM; EC, 2017) supply is essential to both the maintenance and development of the EU economy as its industries rely on a steady RM supply. Thus, securing a sustainable RM and CRM supply and their circular use in the economy is of importance at EU level and beyond (Blengini et al., 2017, Coulomb et al., 2015, Vidal-Legaz et al., 2016). Furthermore, the developments of clean technologies coupled with economic growth exacerbate the short and long-term demand and needs (Blagoeva et al., 2016, Pavel and Tzimas, 2016). For example, Habib and Wenzel (2014) reported that the necessary supply Nd and Dy will grow from 10.0 Gg to 54.5 Gg and 0.5 Gg to 4.95 Gg respectively from 2010 to 2050.