Optimizing Non-Ferrous Metal Value from MSWI Bottom Ashes

Simon P. M. Berkhout, Bert P.M. Oudenhoven, Peter C. Rem

.

DOI: 10.4236/jep.2011.25065                

Abstract

The bottom ashes resulted annually from the incineration of municipal solid waste in Europe contain about 400,000 tonnes of metallic aluminium and 200,000 tonnes of heavy non-ferrous metals, such as copper and zinc. Efficient recovery of this non-ferrous metal resource requires state-of-the-art separation technologies and a continuous feedback of laboratory analyses of the metal products and the depleted bottom ash to the operators of the bottom ash treatment plants. A methodology is presented for the optimization of the production of non-ferrous metal value from Municipal Solid Waste Incinerator bottom ash. Results for an incineration plant in the Netherlands show that efficient recycling can have a significant impact on value recovery as well as on non-ferrous metal recycling rates, producing up to 8% more revenue and 25% more metals from the ash.

Keywords

Urban Mining, Solid Waste, MSWI Bottom Ash, Non-Ferrous Metals

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1]	EU Statistics, “Structural Indicators: Municipal Waste,” 2007. http://Europe.eu.int.
[2]	L. Muchova and P. C. Rem, “Hydrogen from Bottom Ash,” In: A. Kungolos, K. Aravossis, A. Karagiannidis and P. Samaras, Eds., Proceedings of the International Conference on Environmental Management Engineering, Planning, GRAFIMA, Thessaloniki, 2007, pp. 1895- 1900.
[3]	Y. Hu and M. C. Bakker, “Recovery and Distribution of Incinerated Aluminium Packaging Waste,” Submitted to Waste Management, 2010.
[4]	Public Consultation of the European Union, 2006.
[5]	L. Muchova, “Wet Physical Separation of MSWI Bottom Ash,” TU Delft PhD Thesis, 2010.
[6]	W. de Vries, P. Rem and P. Berkhout, “ADR: A New Method for Dry Classification,” Proceedings of the ISWA International Conference, Lisbon, 12-15 October 2009, p. 103.
[7]	J. M. Chimenos, M. Segarra, M. A. Fernandez and F. Espiell, “Characterization of the Bottom Ash in Municipal Solid Waste Incinerator,” Journal of Hazardous Materials, Vol. 64, No. 3, 1999, pp. 211-222. doi:10.1016/S0304-3894(98)00246-5
[8]	G. Schmelzer, S. Wolf and H. Hoberg, “New Wet Treatment for Components of Incineration Slag,” Aufberceitungs-Technik, Vol. 37, No. 4, 1996, pp. 149-157.
[9]	L. Muchova, E. J. Bakker and P. C. Rem, “Precious Metals in Municipal Solid Waste Incineration Bottom Ash,” Water Air Soil Pollution, Vol. 9, No. 1-2, 2009, pp. 107- 116. doi:10.1007/s11267-008-9191-9
[10]	P. C. Rem, C. de Vries, L. A. van Kooy and P. Bevilacqua, M. A. Reuter, “The Amsterdam Pilot on Bottom Ash,” Minerals Engineering, Vol. 17, No. 2, 2004, pp. 363-365. doi:10.1016/j.mineng.2003.11.009
[11]	BREF Waste Incineration, “Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control: Reference document on the Best Available Techniques for Waste Incineration,” July 2005.
[12]	P. Gy, “Sampling for Analytical Purposes,” ISBN 0471979562, John Wiley, Hoboken, 1998.
[13]	A. J. Gesing, D. Reno, R. Grisier, R. Dalton and R. Wolanski, “Nonferrous Metal Recovery from Auto Shredder Residue Using Eddy Current Separators,” In: B. Mishra, Ed., Proceedings of the EPD Congress, 1998, TMS (1998) 9.