Publication
Title
Landfill mining in Europe : assessing the economic potential of value creation from generated combustibles and fines residue
Author
Abstract
Previous studies showed that resources recovery through landfill mining (LFM) is generally challenging from an economic perspective and that a large share of project costs is related to the external treatment and disposal of bulk process wastes such as combustibles and fines residue. Building on these analyses, this study aims to explore the potential for improving the economy of LFM in Europe by creating value from these bulk process wastes. Specifically, the combustibles are treated through internal incineration with subsequent energy recovery, while fines residue is utilized as construction aggregates. These explored possibilities are investigated considering other varying factors at the site, project, and system levels that cover possible LFM project settings in Europe. A set-based modelling approach is adapted generate multiple LFM scenarios (531,441) and investigate the underlying critical factors that drive the economy of LFM through global sensitivity analysis. Results show that an additional 16% of LFM sce-narios become net profitable, mainly driven by fines residue utilization. Avoided costs for re-landfilling are higher than the revenues from construction aggregates. By contrast, internal incineration is driven by the revenues from recovered energy rather than the avoided gate fee, which is substituted by the costs for building and operating own plants. Overall, the policy conditions remain critical to further improve the economy of LFM in Europe. Recommendations include an inclusive quality standard that relies on pollutant leachability rather than total concentration for higher-value application of fines residue and incentive rather than taxation for producing renewable energy from the combustibles. (c) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Waste management. - Oxford
Publication
Oxford : 2021
ISSN
0956-053X
DOI
10.1016/J.WASMAN.2021.03.013
Volume/pages
126 (2021) , p. 221-230
ISI
000655586100022
Pubmed ID
33774582
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
Full text (publisher's version - intranet only)
UAntwerpen
Project info
EU Training Network for Resource Recovery through Enhanced Landfill Mining (NEW-MINE).
Publication type
Subject
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 28.06.2021
Last edited 29.11.2024
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