DEPARTMENT WASTEWATER PROCESS ENGINEERING

(Waste)water treatment is a cross-cutting issue. Raw material extraction/recycling, energy conversion and industrial production are hardly or not possible without water utilization. Clean water itself is a valuable resource, especially internationally.

Our activities focus on water/wastewater/waste treatment (industrial wastewater, process water, sewage sludge) with the aim of improving energy and resource efficiency and industrial productivity.

 

Our research and development topics are:

I. Industrial water cycle closure up to the wastewater-free factory (“Zero-Liquid-Discharge”)

  • (Electro-)chemical oxidation process
  • Process combinations

II. Recovery of valuable substances from wastewater and its treatment residues (nutrients, especially phosphorus, metals)

  • Precipitation, flocculation, stripping, bio-electrochemical precipitation, bio-adsorption
  • Nitrogen and phosphorus from sewage sludge, liquid manure, process water

III. Generation of usable energy (electricity, heat) from chemically bound energy of wastewater and waste streams

  • Bio-electrochemical power generation
  • Biological methane production from sewage sludge and waste
  • Process intensification and dynamic flexibilization

IV. Energy sources/products/chemicals from renewable raw materials

  • Methane/hydrogen from renewable resources (sugar beets, corn, grass, algae)
  • Flocculant from potato and pea starch
  • Biomass (algae) production using solar/LED radiation

 

Clausthal Research Center for Environmental Technologies (Coordination)

Coordination:
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Michael Sievers

Leibnizstraße 23
38678 Clausthal-Zellerfeld, Germanny

Phone: +49 5323 72-6243
E-Mail: michael.sievers@cutec.de