Sapsford, DJ, Stewart, DI orcid.org/0000-0001-5144-1234, Sinnett, DE et al. (7 more authors) (2023) Circular economy landfills for temporary storage and treatment of mineral-rich wastes. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers: Waste and Resource Management. ISSN 1747-6526
Abstract
Many countries face serious strategic challenges with the future supply of both aggregates and critical elements. Yet, at the same time, they must sustainably manage continued multimillion tonne annual arisings of mineral-dominated wastes from mining and industry. In an antithesis of Circular Economy principles, these wastes continue to be landfilled despite often comprising valuable components, such as critical metals, soil macronutrients and mineral components which sequester atmospheric CO2. In this paper, the authors aim to introduce a new concept for value recovery from mineral-rich wastes where materials are temporarily stored and cleaned in landfill-like repositories designed to be mined later. The time in storage is utilised for remediating contaminated materials and separating and concentrating valuable components. It is proposed that this could be achieved through engineering the repository to accelerate “lithomimetic” processes, i.e. those mimicking natural supergene processes responsible for the formation of secondary ores. This paper summarises the concept and justifications and outlines fundamental aspects of how this new concept might be applied to the design of future repositories. The proposed concept aims to end the current “linear” landfilling of mineral-rich wastes in favour of reuse as aggregates and ores.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © ICE Publishing, all rights reserved. This is an author produced version of an article published in Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Waste and Resource Management. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | Waste management & disposal; Waste valorisation; Sustainability; Remediation; Recycled material; Leaching; Landfills; Industrial wastes; UNSDG 9: Industry innovation and infrastructure; UNSDG 11: Sustainable cities and communities; UNSDG 12: Responsible consumption and productionl UNSDG 13: Climate action |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (Leeds) > School of Civil Engineering (Leeds) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council) EP/T031166/1 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 07 Feb 2023 10:14 |
Last Modified: | 07 Feb 2023 10:14 |
Status: | Published online |
Publisher: | ICE Publishing |
Identification Number: | 10.1680/jwarm.22.00008 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:195838 |
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Filename: jwarm.22.00008 Author Accepted Manuscript.pdf
Licence: CC-BY 4.0