nir-vana innovation network

The Clean Water Technology Lab – is a Helmholtz Innovation Lab located at the Department of Experimental Thermal Fluid Dynamics. It is an interface between research and industry where new ideas for sustainable water treatment are continuously tested and developed into breakthrough technological applications. It offers various opportunities for collaboration, such as research and development in the fields of aeration systems for the treatment of wastewater. The performance of aeration systems in activated sludge tanks determines in great part the energy consumption and the treatment efficiency of whole wastewater treatment plants. The advanced measuring instruments and test facilities are available to conduct analyses of aeration systems in terms of: - Oxygen transfer rate and efficiency - Gas bubble size - Mixing efficiency - Contaminant removal The infrastructure located within the fluid dynamics laboratory includes multiple tank and cold-flow tests stands as well as a biosafety level 2 certified wastewater laboratory for investigations with real activated sludge. Analyses based on for example videometry, flow microscopy, or image processing algorythms for the characterization of physicochemical and biological processes involved in aeration, providing insights into the optimization potential of our partners systems are offered. Two DN 900 columns with maximum filling level of 4 meters are installed within our wastewater laboratory and are equipped with instrumentation for oxygen transfer and nitrification experiments. The two identical columns allow for parallel experiments at depths similar to those in real activated sludge tanks. The infrastructure at the fluid dynamics laboratory is complemented by the 14 cubic meter mobile activated sludge tanks, which can be installed as a bypass at real wastewater treatment plants. The two identical tanks are, in the same way as the DN 900 columns, ideal for parallel performance tests with the highest degree of comparability. Experts at the Innovation Lab offer R&D services for industrial partners, municipal plant operators and other research institutions working towards the optimization of aeration systems. Research cooperation agreements and/or Commercial agreements with technical assistance are envisaged.