Für die Herstellung von Kupfer aus Primär- und Sekundärressourcen wurde eine Exergieanalyse der Aufbereitungs- und Gewinnungsverfahren durchgeführt. Für die Stoffgemische Kupfererz, Kupferkonzentrat und Hausmüllverbrennungsasche wurden die Exergien tabellarisch berechnet. Die Exergieaufwände der technischen Prozesse zur Kupferherstellung wurden mit den thermodynamisch minimal notwendigen Aufwänden verglichen. Die Nutzung von Sekundärrohstoffen aus Abfällen ist über weite Bereiche vorteilhaft, insb. wenn das Kupfer bereits in der metallischen Form vorliegt.
The industrial sector of bottom ash (BA) treatment from municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) in Germany is currently changing. In order to increase the recovery rates of metals or to achieve a higher quality of mineral aggregates derived from BA, new procedures have been either implemented to existing plants or completely new treatment plants have been built recently. Three treatment trains, which are designated as entire sequences of selected processing techniques of BA, are introduced and compared. One treatment train is mainly characterized by usage of a high speed rotation accelerator whereas another is operating completely without crushing. In the third treatment train the BA is processed wet directly after incineration. The consequences for recovered metal fractions and the constitution of remaining mineral aggregates are discussed in the context of legislative and economical frameworks. Today the recycling or disposal options of mineral residues still have a high influence on the configuration and the operation mode of the treatment trains of BA despite of the high value of recovered metals.
In Germany, the direct material input (DMI) was 1727 million tons in the year 2014. This figure would be even higher by more than 14 % if no secondary materials were already used in industrial production. For example, production of secondary Cu is advantageous due to lower energy consumption and conservation of scarce natural resources. The presentation will discuss pathways to increase the use of secondary raw materials to foster a circular economy with a focus on waste treatment processes.