IFAT 2018 | New Technologies in the Wastewater Industry

Contaminants from industry and private households are increasingly polluting our water. The topic of safety and environmental protection is more than ever in the focus of the wastewater industry in Europe.

Otto Schaaf, President DWA:
"This discussion has been expanded with the subject of micro-plastics. We’re also talking about the issue of biotic-resistant germs. And I don’t think we should disregard all the tasks needed for the preservation of our infrastructure. We have sewage treatment plants in Germany that have not been thoroughly renovated for the past 25 or 30 years."

New challenges that require new technologies. IFAT 2018 presents ideas and possible solutions in order to permanently ensure high water quality. The company XYLEM is calling for the fourth purification stage – using for example ozone in Germany, to reliably filter micropollutants.

Falk Olaf Petersdorf, Managing Director Xylem Water Solutions Deutschland:
"The clarified wastewater then runs through the ozone generator, and here, the impurities caused by hormones, painkillers, cosmetics, and X-ray contrast agents are oxidized, split and thus rendered harmless to humans. Then the purified, oxidized and clarified wastewater can be safely reintroduced into the water cycle."

The firm INVENT also takes care of the safe elimination of microplastics from wastewater. It’s developed a technical solution especially for large sewage treatment plants.

Marcus Höfken, Chairman of the Board, INVENT
"Here we’ve simply placed a lot of emphasis on building a very compact filter. We’ve placed very high value on hydraulic precipitation rates. Here we’ve developed a special filter rod, developed a special disc that rotates continuously, and that gives us a dynamic filtration so we can also eject small particles, even though we have a very high flow rate."

In industry, as in pharmaceutical firms, it is very important that by using their own sewage treatment plant, companies are never even allowed into the sewage in the first place.

EnviroChemie, Klaus Dickhoff
"We work with oxidation processes, depending on the pollutant and the pollutant load. Those can be oxidation processes with hydrogen peroxide or with ozone or with combinations of both. We build these systems in a modular fashion, so they can be switched before or after the process. "

Another challenge for sewage technologies is the recovery of phosphorus from sewage sludge. From 2029 onwards, sewage treatment systems for more than 50,000 residents will be obliged to recover phosphorus and to recycle it, for the long-term conservation of resources.

Jörg Simon, Chairman of the Board, BWB:
"A future problem will be to remove the phosphorus from the sewage sludge. We developed a process together with our employees where we can crystallize so-called magnesium- ammonium-phosphate from the sewage sludge and then use it as fertilizer. We’ve also had it certified as a fertilizer. This has been acknowledged, making it a good example of a recyclable product."

Cleaning, recycling and conserving resources are all important topics in the wastewater industry at IFAT 2018. But it’s also the responsibility of every one of us not to let waste and pollution arise in the first place.

Otto Schaaf, President DWA:
"We can also contribute through the behavior of each resident in Germany, or even beyond that. One specific example is the use of medicines. They simply don’t belong in the toilet and they should be thrown into household waste. If we succeed in persuading people to behave in such a strict way, then we can already achieve a lot for water quality."

IFAT 2018. The place to find solutions for the future.

Видео IFAT 2018 | New Technologies in the Wastewater Industry канала IFAT Munich