Efficient Re-Use of Tunnel Excavation Material by Using New Technologies

But what happens with the spoil material? Nowadays, tunnel boring machine (TBM) muck is considered as waste and is usually disposed of to landfills as it represents the simplest, but not the most cost-effective method. However, this action involves environmental impacts and transportissues (landfill areas, CO2 emissions, noise, and water and soil contaminations).The last 30 years have shown that parts of the spoil can be recycled either for on-site uses (e.g.concrete for linings) or as primary resource for other industrial sectors (e.g. brick industry). This requires a continuous evaluation of the raw material quality (petrographic, chemical and physicalrock properties), processing of the suitable raw material, and storage areas outside the tunnel. Away to reduce environmental impacts and maximise the use of excavation material is to analyseand separate TBM muck on-line, inside the tunnel, on the back-up system of a tunnel boring machine to utilise the reuse potential.