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Many organizations in Europe collect data and perform research on municipal solid waste and the secondary raw materials that can be produced from them through recycling, urban mining, or landfill mining.However, the information generated and presented thereby is often highly aggregated, while research activities are many a time isolated. Both reduce the usability of the data and information generated. In order to better structure the knowledge generation on secondary raw materials production from municipal solid waste, we suggest to learn from the traditional raw materials mining Industry how to perform an integrated assessment and reporting of anthropogenic resources. This is exemplarily shown for the case of the anthropogenic resource municipal solid waste incineration bottom ash and airpollution control residues. A network of expert institutions from countries throughout Europe was build up to compile the information on legal and technological aspects for the recovery of different secondary raw materials from these residues, including construction minerals, metals, and salts. We highlight in our article the strength of the combined knowledge of an expert network not only on legal and technological, but also local and site-specific aspects of the recovery of secondary raw materials. By doing so, we hope to kick-off a discussion for how to organize and implement a structure for a better management of knowledge on anthropogenic resources, in order to provide a sustainable supply of secondary raw materials for a greener and more circular economy.
Wet-mechanical treatment: Processing of bituminous road construction waste in a jigging machine
(2023)
Jigging machines are used in processing technology in many areas. Examples are the processing of coal, ores, and primary and secondary raw and waste materials. Even small differences in density are offen sufficient for successful sorting. In the work presented here, milled material from road construction waste contaminated with bitumen is to be separated from uncontaminated material. In this way, scarce landfill space could be saved and mineral material be returned to the material cycle.
The potential release of hazardous substances from polymer-based products is currently in the focus of environmental policy. Environmental simulations are applied to expose such products to selected aging conditions and to investigate release processes. Commonly applied aging exposure types such as solar and UV radiation in combination with water contact, corrosive gases, and soil contact as well as expected general effects on polymers and additional ingredients of polymer-based products are described. The release of substances is based on mass-transfer processes to the material surfaces. Experimental approaches to investigate transport processes that are caused by water contact are presented. For tailoring the tests, relevant aging exposure types and release quantification methods must be combined appropriately. Several studies on the release of hazardous substances such as metals, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, flame retardants, antioxidants, and carbon nanotubes from polymers are summarized exemplarily. Differences between natural and artificial exposure tests are discussed and demonstrated for the release of flame retardants from several polymers and for biocides from paints. Requirements and limitations to apply results from short-term artificial environmental exposure tests to predict long-term environmental behavior of polymers are presented.
Wie Länder mit ihren Abfällen umgehen, hängt nicht nur von der Wirtschaftskraft eines Landes ab. Selbst in einem reichen Land wie Australien werden unbehandelte Abfälle einfach deponiert. Im Rahmen der Travelling Conference, einer vom Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF) geförderten Vortragsreihe, besuchten Fachleute die Länder Südkorea, Vietnam und Australien, um mit Experten vor Ort Fragestellungen aus der Abfallwirtschaft zu diskutieren. Zu den Schwerpunktthemen zählte die Steigerung der Ressourceneffizienz im Spannungsfeld von ökonomischen und umweltpolitischen Interessen. Eine Frage war beispielsweise die Bewertung der Umweltverträglichkeit von mineralischen Abfällen, wenn diese als Ersatzbaustoffe eingesetzt werden. In diesem Beitrag werden Ähnlichkeiten und Unterschiede bei der Entsorgung von Siedlungsabfällen, beim Recycling und bei der Bewertung der Umweltverträglichkeit der Wiederverwertung von Abfällen in den drei besuchten Ländern im Vergleich zu Deutschland aufgezeigt. Dabei ist man sich in Deutschland und den drei besuchten Ländern einig, dass die Abfallbeseitigung auf Deponien ohne Rückgewinnung von Ressourcen oder Energie die schlechteste Abfallentsorgungsoption ist. Einigkeit besteht auch darin, dass die Ziele einer nachhaltigen Abfallwirtschaft der Schutz der menschlichen Gesundheit und der Umwelt sowie die Schonung von Ressourcen sind. In allen drei Ländern werden große Mengen an mineralischen Abfällen erzeugt, die bei Nachweis der Umweltverträglichkeit einen Teil von natürlichem Sand und Kies für die Bauindustrie ersetzen könnten. Ähnlich wie in Deutschland werden recycelte Abfälle im Tiefbau jedoch nur in geringem Maße eingesetzt. Gründe dafür sind fehlende Behandlungsanlagen für mineralische Abfälle und Bedenken im Hinblick auf die Umweltverträglichkeit.
Microplastics are increasingly entering marine, limnic and terrestrial ecosystems worldwide, where they sorb hydrophobic organic contaminants. Here, the sorption behavior of the fuel-related water contaminants benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene and xylene (BTEX) and four tertiary butyl ethers to virgin and via UV radiation aged polypropylene (PP) and polystyrene (PS) pellets was investigated. Changes in material properties due to aging were recorded using appropriate polymer characterization methods, such as differential scanning calorimetry, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, gel permeation chromatography, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and microscopy.
Pellets were exposed to water containing BTEX and the ethers at 130-190 mg/L for up to two weeks.
Aqueous sorbate concentrations were determined by headspace gas chromatography. Sorption to the polymers was correlated with the sorbate's Kow and was significant for BTEX and marginal for the ethers.
Due to substantially lower glass transition temperatures, PP showed higher sorption than PS. Aging had no effect on the sorption behavior of PP. PS sorbed less BTEX after aging due to an oxidized surface layer.
For the first time, µ-X-ray fluorescence (µ-XRF) mapping combined with fluorine K-edge µ-X-ray absorption near-edge structure (µ-XANES) spectroscopy was applied to depict per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contamination and inorganic fluoride in samples concentrations down to 100 µg/kg fluoride. To demonstrate the matrix tolerance of the method, several PFAS contaminated soil and sludge samples as well as selected consumer product samples (textiles, food contact paper and permanent baking sheet) were investigated. µ-XRF mapping allows for a unique element-specific visualisation at the sample surface and enables localisation of fluorine containing compounds to a depth of 1 µm. Manually selected fluorine rich spots were subsequently analysed via fluorine K-edge µ-XANES spectroscopy. To support spectral interpretation with respect to inorganic and organic chemical distribution and compound class determination, linear combination (LC) fitting was applied to all recorded µ-XANES spectra. Complementarily, solvent extracts of all samples were target-analysed via LC-MS/MS spectrometry. The detected PFAS sum values range from 20 to 1136 µg/kg dry weight (dw). All environmentally exposed samples revealed higher concentration of PFAS with a chain length >C8 (e.g. 580 µg/kg dw PFOS for Soil1), whereas the consumer product samples showed a more uniform distribution with regard to chain lengths from C4 to C8. Independent from quantified PFAS amounts via target analysis, µ-XRF mapping combined with µ-XANES spectroscopy was successfully applied to detect both point-specific concentration maxima and evenly distributed surface coatings of fluorinated organic contaminants in the corresponding samples.
Die Thermische Abfallbehandlung in Abfallverbrennungsanlagen sorgt für eine Inertisierung des Restmülls bei gleichzeitiger Minimierung von abgas- und abwasserseitigen Emissionen. Da der Großteil der Rückstände in verwertbare Sekundärprodukte überführt wird, fördert die thermische Abfallbehandlung die Verwirklichung einer Circular Economy in Europa.
Direct and indirect effects (DIERec) of the recovery of secondary resources are in the range of 500 million tons per year in Germany; energy savings are 1.4 million TJ. These savings are between 10 and 20% of the total. The effects of materials recovery exceed those of energy recovery by far except for secondary plastic material, where DIERec from energy recovery is higher by factor of 2.7. Untapped potential for the recovery of secondary resources exists in the fine fraction of bottom ash from municipal solid waste incineration, mainly Cu and precious metals, and in urban mining.
Over the past two decades, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) have emerged as worldwide environmental contaminants, calling out for sophisticated treatment, decomposition and remediation strategies. In order to mineralize PFAS pollutants, the incineration of contaminated material is a state-of-the-art process, but more cost-effective and sustainable technologies are inevitable for the future. Within this review, various methods for the reductive defluorination of PFASs were inspected. In addition to this, the role of mechanochemistry is highlighted with regard to its major potential in reductive defluorination reactions and degradation of pollutants. In order to get a comprehensive understanding of the involved reactions, their mechanistic pathways are pointed out. Comparisons between existing PFAS decomposition reactions and reductive approaches are discussed in detail, regarding their applicability in possible remediation processes. This article provides a solid overview of the most recent research methods and offers guidelines for future research directions.
Potential use of incineration bottom ash in construction – Evaluation of the environmental impact
(2020)
Knowledge of the long-term leaching behavior of potentially harmful substances is crucial for the assessment of the environmental compatibility of reusing municipal solid-waste incineration bottom ash (MSWI BA) in construction, i.e., as a road base layer.
BA fractions obtained from wet-processing aiming at the improvement of environmental quality were used to investigate the mobility of relevant substances. Eluates from laboratory-scaled leaching procedures (column percolation and lysimeters) were analyzed to learn about the long-term release of substances. Unsaturated conditions and artificial rainwater (AR) were used in the lysimeter tests to simulate field conditions. In addition, batch test eluates were generated at usual liquid-to-solid ratios (L/S) for compliance testing purposes. A variety of cations and anions was measured in the eluates.
The wet treatment reduces the leaching of chloride and particularly sulfate by more than 60%. The release of typical contaminants for the treated MSWI BA such as the heavy metals Cu and Cr was well below 1% in the conducted leaching tests.
An increase in the Sb concentration observed in the lysimeter experiments starting at L/S 0.75 L/kg and in the column experiment at L/S 4 L/kg is assumed to be related to decreasing concentrations of Ca and thus to the dissolution of sparingly soluble calcium antimonate. The same leaching mechanism applies with V, but the concentration levels observed are less critical regarding relevant limit values. However, on the long term the behavior of Sb could be problematic for the application of MSWI BA in construction.
Der Verwertung von Bodenmaterialien wird auf Grund des Volumens dieses Stoffstromes eine hohe umweltpolitische Bedeutung beigemessen. Dabei ist unter Gewährleistung des Vorsorge- und Nachhaltigkeitsprinzips eine möglichst hochwertige Verwertung anzustreben, um natürliche Ressourcen zu schonen und die Beseitigung von Abfällen weitestgehend zu vermeiden.
Die vorgesehene Novelle der BBodSchV enthält in den Paragraphen 6 bis 8 neue Vorgaben hinsichtlich des Auf- und Einbringens von Bodenmaterialien unterhalb oder außerhalb einer durchwurzelbaren Bodenschicht. So soll die Möglichkeit eingeräumt werden, Bodenmaterialien mit Feststoffgehalten von regulierten Stoffen zwischen dem einfachen und doppelten Vorsorgewert einer weiteren Verwertung zuzuführen unter der Voraussetzung, dass die Eluatwerte eingehalten werden.
Im Rahmen eines Forschungsvorhabens des Umweltbundesamtes (FKZ: 3716 74 203 0) wurden unterschiedliche Bodenmaterialien (Baggergut, Bankettschälgut, Stadt- und Auenböden, Bergematerial), die unter diese Kriterien fallen, mit besonderem Fokus auf PAK hinsichtlich ihres Verwertungspotentials untersucht.
Dabei wurden auch die Auswirkungen der Umstellung des Elutionsverfahrens von einem Wasser-Feststoffverhältnis (W/F) von 10 l/kg auf ein W/F von 2 l/kg auf die Einstufung von Bodenmaterialien betrachtet.
Insbesondere für die Stoffgruppe der PAK konnte gezeigt werden, dass sich mit Verabschiedung der neuen Regelungen zusätzliche Verwertungsmöglichkeiten von Bodenmaterialien außerhalb der durchwurzelbaren Bodenschicht eröffnen und deren Deponierung teilweise vermieden werden kann.
Das Recycling von gemischten Baustoffen führt neben der Herstellung von Gesteinskörnungen parallel zu einem stärker schadstoffbelasteten Stoffstrom, der circa ein Drittel der ursprünglichen Masse ausmacht. Dieser sogenannte Brechsand endet derzeit in der Deponierung und wird somit der Kreislaufwirtschaft entzogen. Der vorliegende Beitrag untersucht nun die Aufbereitung dieses Materials unter Verwendung einer Setzmaschine im Pilotmaßstab. Hierbei wird die Eignung dieser Technik evaluiert und das Aufbereitungsprodukt als möglicher Ersatzbaustoff untersucht.
The concept of circular economy supports mitigation of climate change and other environmental pressures to the planet. Circulating materials in anthropogenic processes come with the risk of accumulating hazardous substances and compounds. In this concept, waste incineration or waste-to-energy (WtE) is a necessary technology to remove these compounds from the life cycle. In this mini-review, contaminants of major importance in the flue gas from waste incineration plants and their environmental impact are discussed. Air pollution of WtE is often seen as the most relevant environmental impact of this treatment option. The emission values parameter set for different countries is presented and compared. The most stringent legally set of emission values could be found in parts of Europe and South Korea. Japan also permits similar strict values when authorising individual incineration plants. In North America, the values are partially less strict as the best available technologies in Europe suggest being possible. Emerging economies, such as India and China, have shown efforts to improve their environmental protection standards but still have room to improve. This could be set in relation to other industrial emitting processes and therefore could be used to assess the relevance of this industry sector to the national emission inventories.
Municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) is one of the leading technologies for municipal solid waste (MSW) treatment in Europe. Incineration bottom ash (IBA) is the main solid residue from MSWI, and its annual European production is about 20 million tons. The composition of IBA depends on the composition of the incinerated waste; therefore, it may contain significant amounts of ferrous and non-ferrous (NFe) metals as well as glass that can be recovered. Technologies for NFe metals recovery have emerged in IBA treatment since the 1990s and became common practice in many developed countries. Although the principles and used apparatus are nearly the same in all treatment trains, the differences in technological approaches to recovery of valuable components from IBA – with a special focus on NFe metals recovery – are summarized in this paper.
This Special Issue, ‘Measurement of the Environmental Impact of Materials’, is focused on the impact that materials have on the environmental compartments of soil, water and air. Leaching and emission processes, including underlying mechanisms, are a recurring topic in most published articles in the present Special Issue. Contributions have come from three continents and numerous countries (USA, Germany, France, Latvia, Poland, Russia, Japan, Korea and Thailand) indicating the global dimension of the subject.
In 2018 municipal solid waste (MSW) incineration in Europe produced nearly 19 Mt of bottom ash (BA); only 46 %-wt. was treated, often in poorly performing plants, leaving behind 10 Mt of untreated and unrecovered BA, destined to landfill. This work was based on the inventory of BA across Europe, and on the hypothesis to achieve complete BA valorisation through two assumptions: treating 100% BA and minimizing the loss of valuable fractions due to technical limitations of state-of-the-art processes in comparison to advanced innovative processes. The research involved three phases: characterization of potential secondary raw materials (metals and mineral fraction) currently lost from untreated (the surplus compared to treatment capacity) and unrecovered BA (the fine fraction) through material flow analysis; environmental assessment (energy balance and net GHG emissions) of complete BA valorisation; investigation of the economic feasibility of complete BA Valorisation through state-of-the-art technologies. The resulting 2.14 Mt loss of valuable materials included 1 Mt Mineral fraction and 0.97 Mt ferrous metals, mostly from untreated BA, and 0.18 Mt non-ferrous metals, mostly from unrecovered BA. The energy balance and GHGs emissions required by the treatment of the currently untreated and unrecovered fractions of BA resulted in energy and GHGs emissions savings. Economic profitability was driven by iron and copper recycling and avoided landfill fees. Profitability was achieved by two thirds of considered countries (average values: NPV 83 M€, ROI 20%, payback time 11 years) with BA mass flow exceeding 0.02 Mt.
Solid wastewater-based fertilizers were screened for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) by the extractable organic fluorine (EOF) sum parameter method. The EOF values for ten sewage sludges from Germany and Switzerland range from 154 to 7209 mg kg−1. For thermal treated sewage sludge and struvite the EOF were lower with values up to 121 mg kg−1. Moreover, the application of PFAS targeted
and suspect screening analysis of selected sewage sludge samples showed that only a small part of the EOF sum parameter values can be explained by the usually screened legacy PFAS. The hitherto unknown part of EOF sum parameter contains also fluorinated pesticides, pharmaceutical and aromatic compounds. Because these partly fluorinated compounds can degrade to (ultra-)short PFAS in wastewater treatment plants they should be considered as significant sources of organic fluorine in the environment. The combined results of sum parameter analysis and suspect screening reveal the need to update current regulations, such as the German fertilizer ordinance, to focus not solely on a few selected PFAS such as perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) but
consider an additional sum parameter approach as a more holistic alternative. Moreover, diffusion gradient in thin-films (DGT) passive samplers were utilized as an alternative simplified extraction method for PFAS in solid wastewater-based fertilizers and subsequently quantified via combustion ion chromatography. However, the DGT method was less sensitive and only comparable to the EOF values
of the fertilizers in samples with >150 mg kg−1, because of different diffusion properties for various PFAS, but also kinetic exchange limitations.
Almost 500 municipal solid waste incineration plants in the EU, Norway and Switzerland generate about 17.6 Mt/a of incinerator bottom ash (IBA). IBA contains minerals and metals. Metals are mostly separated and sold to the scrap market and minerals are either disposed of in landfills or utilised in the construction sector. Since there is no uniform regulation for IBA utilisation at EU level, countries developed own rules with varying requirements for utilisation. As a result from a cooperation network between European experts an up-to-date overview of documents regulating IBA utilisation is presented. Furthermore, this work highlights the different requirements that have to be considered. Overall, 51 different parameters for the total content and 36 different parameters for the emission by leaching are defined. An analysis of the defined parameter reveals that leaching parameters are significantly more to be considered compared to total content parameters. In order to assess the leaching behaviour nine different leaching tests, including batch tests, up-flow percolation tests and one diffusion test (monolithic materials) are in place.
A further discussion of leaching parameters showed that certain countries took over limit values initially defined for landfills for inert waste and adopted them for IBA utilisation. The overall utilisation rate of IBA in construction works is approximately 54 wt%. It is revealed that the rate of utilisation does not necessarily depend on how well regulated IBA utilisation is, but rather seems to be a result of political commitment for IBA recycling and economically interesting circumstances.
Warum eine Kreislaufwirtschaft ohne Abfallverbrennung nicht funktionieren wird, beschreibt die Dechema im Positionspapier „Abfallverbrennung in der Zukunft“. Experten der Fachgruppe „Abfallbehandlung und Wertstoffrückgewinnung“ von ProcessNet, einer gemeinsamen Initiative der Dechema und der VDI-Gesellschaft Verfahrenstechnik und Chemieingenieurwesen, haben es erstellt.
Here, we report a comparative study of different sum parameter analysis methods for the extraction of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from manufactured consumer products, which can be measured by combustion ion chromatography (CIC). Therefore, a hydrolysis-based extraction method was further developed, which accounts for the addition of hydrolyzable covalently bound polyfluoroalkylated side-chain polymers (SFPs) to the extractable organic fluorine portion of the mass balance proposed as "hydrolyzable organically bound fluorine" (HOF). To test this hypothesis, the method was applied to 39 different consumer products containing fluoropolymers or monomeric PFAS taken from four different categories: outdoor textiles, paper packaging, carpeting, and permanent baking sheets. We also evaluated the method's efficiency by extracting four synthesized fluorotelomer polyacrylate reference compounds. The total fluorine (TF) and extractable organically bound fluorine (EOF) values were measured through CIC using established protocols. The TF values ranged from sub-ppb to %-levels, depending on the compound class. All samples showed results for hydrolyzed organofluorine (HOF) between 0.03 and 76.3 μg/g, while most EOF values were lower (<LOD to 58.1 μg/g). Moreover, the methods were contrasted with the "total hydrolyzable precursor" (THP) assay analyzed using gas-chromatography coupled mass spectrometry (GC-MS), which yielded concentrations of 6:2–10:2 fluorotelomer alcohols (<LOD-568 μg/g) for textile and paper samples. Furthermore, targeted analytical investigation of 25 compounds via liquid chromatography coupled tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) was conducted and accounted for significantly lower sum amounts (<LOD-0.98 μg PFAS/g). To estimate the fluorine mass balance of all methods, the fluorine levels of target analytical data were calculated and compared to the sum parameter values and evaluated. Finally, the efficiency of the extraction method was approximated by the recovery analysis of four selected SFP model compounds compared to their TF values, yielding 36.7–74.0% after extraction and 3.8–36.3% after processing the extract for the HOF sum parameter.