CASE STUDY ON ENHANCED LANDFILL MINING AT MSG LANDFILL IN BELGIUM: MECHANICAL PROCESSING OF FINE FRACTIONS FOR MATERIAL AND ENERGY RECOVERY

Abstract

(Enhanced) landfill mining ((E)LFM) projects have been mainly driven by land reclamation, environmental pollution mitigation and remediation of old landfills and dumpsites, among others. However, previous studies have also shown that these sites may be a relevant source of secondary raw materials. In this respect and within the framework of the “EU Training Network for Resource Recovery through Enhanced Landfill Mining – NEW-MINE”, around 374 Mg of waste was excavated from a landfill site in the municipality of Mont-Saint-Guibert, Belgium, as part of a case study to evaluate the full implementation of ELFM. The excavated landfilled material was pre-processed with a ballistic separator onsite directly after excavation, with which the fine fractions (material <90 mm) were obtained. Subsequently, samples of the fine fractions were characterized in order to determine their main properties and material composition. According to these strategies a chain of mechanical processing steps was selected and tested in the processing of the fine fractions in the optimal water content (15 wt.% WC) and dry states. The mechanical processing in the dry state yielded total amounts of 41.9-43.9 wt.% DM fine fractions <4.5 mm, 35.9-39.0 wt.% DM inert materials, 7.4-10.0 wt.% DM combustible materials, 1.2-1.8 wt.% DM ferrous metals and 0.2-0.4 wt.% DM non-ferrous metals. These figures suggest that a significant share of the fine fractions could be recovered through the tested mechanical processing approach, which might contribute to the overall economic and environmental feasibility of the project in case of implementing full scale (E)LFM at the studied landfill site.