Research topics

Contact: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Michael Sievers

The Department of Wastewater Process Engineering focuses on research and development activities in the following areas:

  • Industrial water cycle closure up to the wastewater-free factory ("Zero-Liquid-Discharge")
    • (Electro-) chemical oxidation processes
    • Process combinations
  • 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
  • Generation of usable energy (electricity, heat) from chemically combined energy of wastewater and waste streams,
    • Bio-electrochemical power generation
    • Biological methane generation from sewage sludge and waste
    • Process intensification and dynamic flexibilization
  • Energy sources/products/chemicals from renewable resources.
    • Methane/hydrogen from renewable resources (sugar beets, corn, grass, algae)
    • Flocculants from potato and pea starch
    • Production of biomass (algae) by means of solar/LED radiation