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Landfill Mining - A Comprehensive Literature Review
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A review of available literature of landfill mining and potential challenges, opportunities and work scope.
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... The energy recovery was made using inorganics and organics. In contrast, the fine fraction excavated from the landfills were used in horticulture by utilizing them as compost with a noncombustible portion of the wastes (Dhar, 2015). ...
The untreated water may lead to an excessive disposal of wastes which may reduce the water quality of water bodies and damage water ecosystems. Wastewater treatment systems are widely implemented in industries and municipalities to decrease toxic wastewater release into aquatic ecosystems. Wastewater recycling, reclamation, recovery, and reuse can be used as tools for the control of water resources and can attract researchers and stakeholders. Currently microbial fuel cells and microalgae are intensively studied as a cost-effective technology to complete sustainable wastewater treatment. These technologies have potential benefits for energy, and environmental and economic sustainability. This chapter will review the challenges, barriers, and opportunities associated with improving wastewater treatment systems.
... The energy recovery was made using inorganics and organics. In contrast, the fine fraction excavated from the landfills were used in horticulture by utilizing them as compost with a noncombustible portion of the wastes (Dhar, 2015). ...
The increased population and water demands have forced the human community to search for new paradigms for supplying and managing water. The water reuse or potable and nonpotable application of reclaimed wastewater is attracting attention. The increased popularity of reclaimed water has raised safety concerns regarding the quality. With suitable treatment techniques (process redundancy, high-level disinfection), technical controls (regular inspections, alarm shutdowns), online monitoring control (residual chlorine concentration, turbidity in effluent), and operational controls (for deviation and variability), a reliable quality of reclaimed water can be accomplished. Monitoring and operational response plans are used to provide quality control in potable reclaimed water projects. Quality is assured by establishing multiple barriers and assessing the reliability of treatment. This chapter discusses the design principles and the important guidelines in water reclamation for better water quality.
... The energy recovery was made using inorganics and organics. In contrast, the fine fraction excavated from the landfills were used in horticulture by utilizing them as compost with a noncombustible portion of the wastes (Dhar, 2015). ...
Mathematical modeling and optimization of wastewater treatment processes have become a powerful tool for process designing in engineering firms throughout the world. The wastewater treatment processes are complex, and their operations pose many challenges. The modeling and optimization of wastewater treatment processes facilitate in predicting the behavior of wastewater treatment processes, the fluctuations in the influent concentrations, flow rate, and concentration of pollutants without disturbing the real system. The mathematical models are extensively used at operating facilities for everyday operating decisions. The increased computer processing power, along with the user-friendly simulation software, has made it easier to model the complexities. This chapter provides a complete and detailed overview of the application of mathematical modeling in the field of wastewater treatment. The modeling approach, implementing the circular economy principles, is also discussed, highlighting the potential of wastewater treatment plants to be more sustainable waste resource recovery facilities.
Landfill mining (LFM) is excavating and processing legacy waste to recover secondary resources. This study reviews the technologies used for excavation and processing of the buried waste, fractions recovered from LFM, their characterization, and environmental and safety issues associated with LFM. The study first explains the process of literature selection by which publications were selected for inclusion in the manuscript. For waste excavation, the study compiles the technologies for excavation and material processing and the safety issues involved. The fractions obtained from LFM may be divided into four broad categories: (i) soil-like material, (ii) combustible fraction (including plastic, paper, wood, and textile), (iii) inert fraction (stone, glass, ceramic, and metal) and (iv) others consisting of the remaining fraction. For material recovery, the manuscript first summarizes the percentage of various fractions obtained, the cut-off diameter for soil-like fractions, and the effect of age on various fractions recovered. The lab analyses for determining the reusability of these fractions have been explained along with the instruments required. Afterwards, the environmental and safety issues associated with LFM have been discussed. Finally, the challenges and opportunities for reutilization of materials obtained from LFM have been elaborated upon.
Landfilling has gained worldwide notoriety in solid wastes management and disposal, however, in addition to occupying valuable spaces, traditional old landfills are responsible for greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions, water sources pollution by landfill leachate, and major environmental issues. Landfill mining (LFM) can be a solution to the environmental problems caused by landfilling, furthermore, it consists of the recovery of valuable scarce raw materials such as copper, aluminum, gold, or other valuable metals and combustibles, resulting in the conversion of waste to wealth. This book chapter points out the significance and benefits of LFM, mining techniques, and the importance of feasibility studies. LFM practices are growing, especially in European countries, the USA, China, and India, however, some countries are still unfamiliar with the practice. Though LFM as a reuse or reclamation technique, is a promising solid waste management process, some key factors need to be addressed for the acceptance and adequate integration of the process.
Traditionally, the conception of mining is stated as the process of extracting and recovering the products of economic value. In today’s scenario, landfill mining (LFM) is a technique employed for obtaining the potential resources from the mixture of wastes using biomechanical processes. The concept of mining is being applied to older dumpsites for material recovery in the form of resources. A detailed analysis is needed to estimate the economic value of the whole process. The current chapter summarizes the financial and sustainable details of LFM and various aspects associated with it. The objective of this chapter is to educate and share significant knowledge and experiences gained in the domain of LFM for effective solid waste management (SWM) tending toward sustainable development. This chapter proposes a strategic approach for resource and energy recovery by employing LFM in SWM. It also emphasizes policies framed for LFM in different developed countries and elucidates LFM as a feasible option for land reclamation and reuse. The article also discusses success stories of LFM in the global scenario and highlights the need for LFM in the Indian context.
For achieving sustainability in management of municipal solid waste (MSW), it is important to ensure that residues, remaining after processing of waste in various plants (composting, waste to energy (WTE), landfilling), are reutilised in a safe and useful manner. Such residues constitute more than 25–35% of the total MSW generated in urban areas. This paper examines the feasibility of using soil-sized residues from landfill mining operations as well as from WTE plants in large quantities (bulk) in geotechnical applications relating to earthworks and structural fills. The geotechnical properties of the residues as well as the contaminants of concern in these residues from two waste dumps and three waste-to-energy plants of Delhi have been evaluated and the critical parameters inhibiting their un-restricted bulk reuse have been identified. The role of high soluble solids, high organic content, elevated heavy metals, release of colour and variable pH has been brought out. The design measures and treatment methods that need to be adopted when using these residues in surface fills, shallow fills, deep fills and structural fills have been highlighted.
Paris Agreement, signed in 2015 by 195 countries around the world as a measure to stop and reverse the consequences of global warming and promote Sustainable Development (SD), sets out strategies for reducing greenhouse gases and the Agenda 2030, which contains the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The participating countries of these agreements are demanded to develop public policies that incorporate the signed commitments. Regarding this issue, a topic of great importance is solid waste management. To decrease the generation of waste through prevention, reduction, recycling, and reuse become fundamental. Landfill Mining (LM)is presented as a strategic tool that, if established properly within waste management public policies, it can contribute to SD and mitigation of climate change. This article reviews more than a hundred projects carried out in North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, which were cataloged according to the objectives they attended. Economic, social and environmental benefits and their relations with the compliance of SDGs are discussed.
Reclamation of the dumps/landfills having huge quantities of decades-old garbage (aged waste or legacy waste) in an environmentally sound manner is one of the major challenges faced by the developing nations in general and in particular by urban local bodies in India. The article presents the feasibility of landfill mining operation specifically to recover soil-like material at old dumpsites of India for re-use in geotechnical applications. Aged municipal solid waste was collected from three dumpsites of India and initial tests were conducted on the soil-like material of the municipal solid waste. Initial tests results of grain size distribution, compositional analysis, organic content, total dissolved solids, elemental analysis, heavy metal analysis and colour of the leached water from finer fraction of aged municipal solid waste are presented. From the preliminary investigation, it was found that organic content in 15–20-year-old dumpsites varies between 5%–12%. The total dissolved solids ranges between 1.2%–1.5%. The dark coloured water leaching out from aged waste, with reference to local soil, is one of the objectionable parameters and depends on the organic content. The concentration of heavy metals of the finer fraction were compared with the standards. It was found that copper, chromium and cadmium are present at elevated levels in all the three dumpsites. The study concluded that the bulk of the soil-like material from aged municipal solid waste landfills can be used as cover material for landfills at the same site. However, some treatment in terms of washing, thermal treatment, blending with local soil, biological treatment, etc., is required before it can be re-used in other geotechnical applications.
Removing garbage from landfills is coming of age. Today, it is evolving into an accepted practice to meet the range of objectives, including recovery of waste for fuel, and potentially the recovery of recyclable materials. Landfill reclamation also promises other tangible benefits. It can extend landfill life, delaying closure and expenses associated with closure, and can enable sites to be converted to other uses. Collier County, Florida is a leader in the field of landfill reclamation, having conducted the longest on-going landfill mining project in the US. It has shown that excavating wastes can recover useful product. The project also has encourage other landfill owners to try the concept.
Landfill mining was used to close the landfill site in Halifax, Vermont. The process involved excavation, screening, and recompaction of refuse to bring the side slopes to a maximum of 3:1. The volume of material in the landfill to be screened was calculated based on the amount of material that needed to be removed to shape the landfill to the proposed final closure contours. Additional loadings on the screen were corrected by resetting its position closer to level, reducing the stresses on the bearings and allowing the operation of the drum without problems.
Land fill mining involves the excavation of completed fill to reclaim buried resources and in so doing, reclaim capacity. Potentially recoverable resources include ferrous scrap, soil, and combustible materials that can serve as a waste-derived fuel. Land fill mining can also help remediate and upgrade fills that do not meet public health and environmental specifications.
First introduces the concept and feasibility of landfill excavation, which attempts to reuse landfill space following waste degradation, and recover recyclable materials, including the use of organic matter as soil, then describes techniques, and environmental and economic tradeoffs at six project sites in the eastern USA. The author summarises the main benefits and problems of excavation, and the article is concluded with a discussion of the regulatory implications of a new type of landfill operating indefinitely as a degradation and recycling facility. -P.Hardiman