Waste water treatment with adsorptions by mushroom compost The circular economic valuation concept for material cycles

High concentrations of heavy metals (up to the pollution level) can disturb the normal ecosystems of natural rivers. There are some methods for treating heavy metals in waste waters. Heavy metal treatments save the ecosystem and clean drinking water. We determined a new adsorption method for heavy metals using a special mushroom compost, which shows the adsorption capacity of this biomass. The laboratory methods were the preparation of stock solutions from heavy metals, the adsorptions of heavy metals by special mushroom compost with a new technique (shaking method), the degradation of samples and analytical control measurements by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The results show the success of the new adsorption method. The heavy metal adsorption capacity of this mushroom compost seems to be useful on waste water treatment plants because waste water contains heavy metal ions above the limit concentrations. The new absorption technology solution also includes a special economic analysis that examines material flows. In the sustainable economic analysis, as the circular economy focuses on material and energy circularity combined with natural resources (circular economic value (CEV)), the key question is how to make the systems currently operating in a linear form circular. The difference between CEV%(BAU(mod)) = 45.5% and CEV%(Scen(mod)) = 87.5% is the amount of material which could be recycled at the end of life cycle of the product, which is the same as the primary raw material, and so mushroom compost is a completely recyclable material.