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In this work, three possible environmental applications of a volcanic soil have been tested: adsorption of wastewater pollutants from bleached Kraft mili effluent, adsorption of chlorophenols from synthetic groundwater and adsorption of heavy metais from a synthetic landfihl leachate. The evaluated adsorption capacities of the volcanic soil are comparable with natural zeolites. Moreover, the physico-chemical and mineralogical characteristics of the volcanic soil suggest a possible use as a full-scale sanitary landfihl mineral liner. For wastewater and groundwater remediation processes, a porous ceramic material was developed from natural volcanic soil, based on a patented foaming-sintering process that uses recycled PET as the main raw material. This material was developed for resisting hydraulic loads, as well as to prevent attrition losses and sludge formation during contaminated water treatment. The obtained ceramic material has a very stable structure and batch adsorption experiments show an enhanced adsorption capacity compared with natural soil. Finally, twa sustainable waste management ways for the spent volcanic soil, i.e., contaminated with chlorophenols or heavy metals, were also studied. The main sound alternatives include bioremediation (for chlorophenols) and immobilization (for heavy metais). Therefore, a natural attenuation process, including the chlorophenols-contaminated soil biological activity, and the possible use of the heavy metal-contarninated volcanic soil in the clinker/cement production were evaluated. In the case of chlorophenols-contaminated soil, the soil biological activity and bioremediation capacity indicates that the microorganisms present in this soil are able to degrade the adsorbed chlorophenols. In the case of contaminated soil use in the clinker/cement production, the metal oxides content of the volcanic soil (Si02 , Al2 03and Fe203) can be used for the substitution of clay and/or correction materials in the primary clinker mixture. It was concluded that only sorne small emission problems would occur in the worst-case scenario, while using pet-coke and scraptires as alternative fuel in the clinker kilns. In this case, the Pb and Zn content in the flue gas can surpass the maximum level described in the draft project of the new Chilean emission Iaw for incineration and co-incineration of wastes. s/i TERMINADA PFCHA-Becas 230p. PFCHA-Becas