Trash to Treasure: Mining the Ash at a Waste-to-Energy Facility for Metals and Minerals

Kumar, Vikram

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/132897 Copy

Description

Title

Trash to Treasure: Mining the Ash at a Waste-to-Energy Facility for Metals and Minerals

Author(s)

Kumar, Vikram

Issue Date

2023

Keyword(s)

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Abstract

In the U.S., Waste-to-Energy (WTE) facilities equipped with state-of-the-art pollution control equipment incinerate ~35 million tons of waste yearly (the weight of 6.5 percent of the U.S. population). The top images show the unrecyclable trash received at a WTE facility. The incineration process decomposes the organic matter, and the energy thus recovered is used to generate electricity and steam. After incineration, residual trash is left as ash (bottom images) – ashes rich in minerals and metals. Ferrous (Fe) and Non-Ferrous metals (Al) are recovered from the residual ash through magnetic and eddy current separation. The mineral fraction in the ash left after metal recovery is landfilled. However, it contains minerals suitable for cement manufacturing after mild treatment. My research explores treatment methods to enable the deployment of residual ashes post-metal recovery for cement manufacturing – a critical step for making the WTE process genuinely circular. These images were captured at the Indianapolis and York County WTE facility. Presently, waste management in the U.S. relies predominantly on landfilling, a source of methane emissions (20x more potent greenhouse gas than CO2). However, diverting waste from landfills to circular WTE processes can prevent methane emissions from landfills while recovering energy, metals, and minerals.

Type of Resource

• Text
• Image

Language

eng

Handle URL

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/132897

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2023 Vikram Kumar

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