abstract
The novel concepts Enhanced Waste Management (EWM) and Enhanced Landfill Mining (ELFM) intend
to place landfilling of waste in a sustainable context. The state of the technology is an important factor in
determining the most suitable moment to valorize e either as materials (Waste-to-Product, WtP) or as
energy (Waste-to-Energy, WtE) e certain landfill waste streams. The present paper reviews thermochemical
technologies (incineration, gasification, pyrolysis, plasma technologies, combinations) for
energetic valorization of calorific waste streams, with focus on municipal solid waste (MSW), possibly
processed into refuse derived fuel (RDF). The potential and suitability of these thermochemical technologies
for ELFM applications are discussed. From this review it is clear that process and waste have to
be closely matched, and that some thermochemical processes succeed in recovering both materials and
energy from waste. Plasma gasification/vitrification is a viable candidate for combined energy and
material valorization, its technical feasibility for MSW/RDF applications (including excavated waste) has
been proven on installations ranging from pilot to full scale. The continued advances that are being made
in process control and process efficiency are expected to improve the commercial viability of these
advanced thermochemical conversion technologies in the near future.