Urban mining comminution technological applications as the most important part of circular economy, A review

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Abstract

Mankind needs materials for civilisation. The earth sciences & engineering (exploration, extraction and processing of natural and anthropogenic resources) has been supplied raw- and commodity materials for production. Recently it is evident that a better management with natural resources is necessary and therefore the concept of circular economy was born. Its first leg is the system level optimization of the production – consumption cycle by optimal energy usage, circular minded design, and circular minded behaviour of the society, optimised and elongated use of products, re-use, re-manufacture and so on. However, as the name circular economy implies the second leg, namely the circulation of the materials is the most important element. The concept of urban mining means the mining and processing, therefore reclaiming compounds and elements from any kind of anthropogenic origin stocks, including buildings, infrastructure, industries and products (in and out of use). This review paper compiles examples from the literature showcasing industrial applications of urban mining waste-to-material recycling, focusing on cases where mechanical processing of man-made raw materials is essential, thus necessitating comminution and classification processes. Flow types of anthropogenic raw materials are reported to EU authorities regularly, therefore subcategorization of waste types follows the EU nomenclature. Characteristic comminution machines and main types of stressing and some cases characterising separation units are presented which are illustrated by a few selected application examples.