Raw material and energy sources of the future

On 22.10.2009 the Department of Environmental and Recycling Engineering at Nordhausen University of Applied Sciences organized in collaboration with the Institute of Mineral and Waste Processing, Waste Disposal and Geomechanics at Clausthal Uni-versity of Technology the 2nd Nordhausen Workshop on Waste-Derived Materials at the August-Kramer Institute at Nordhausen University of Applied Sciences. Sustainable use of scarce natural resources is one of the key tasks for the future. Low availability and increasing primary raw material prices make the utilization of waste as a raw material and energy source a significant economic factor. As the quality assurance of the prepared waste is an elementary precondition for market acceptance, some of the papers at the conference were especially devoted to this issue. So, for example, the latest findings on the pressing drill method developed and patented at the FHN were presented (Fig.) and the results of field tests discussed by representatives of major laboratories. Against the background of current climate developments, resource and climate protection is gaining importance. This aspect was examined with a talk on saving CO₂ with the use of highly processed waste-derived raw materials.