Eliminating micropollutants in sewage plants
This project looks into how active drugs substances and micropollutants can be extracted via sewage plants. The part played by ISOE is to investigate how such inputs can be avoid.
Research approach
ISOE is here a partner within a joint research project co-ordinated by the Institute of Energy and Environmental Technology (IUTA) in Duisburg.
Eliminating micropollutants
The different wastewater treatment procedures are compared in terms of their cost to the economy and their overall benefit to society. The aim is to develop tools to evaluate and select optimal processing techniques, taking into account not merely the 'hard' costs, but also the benefits for water bodies and health & consumer protection.
Avoiding micropollutants
The ISOE team is analysing how the input of micropollutants into water bodies can be avoided in the first place. It is developing avoidance strategies for selected substances such as active drug substances or flame retardants. In a second stage, the scientists will ascertain the direct and indirect costs of implementing these strategies, adding social evaluation criteria to the equation in the process.
Background
Pharmaceutical residues and organic micropollutants in water bodies have been a recurring subject of public debate for several years now. Micropollutants end up in the water cycle mainly via domestic and industrial wastewater. In North Rhine-Westphalia, this problem is being tackled through the 'Wastewater Investment Programme' set up in 2007. Via this channel, the regional government allocates financial subsidies to local authorities, district water boards and companies to help them make the requisite investment in water pollution control. Parallel to this, the State Ministry of the Environment (MKULNV NRW) launched a research programme on the elimination of pharmaceuticals and organic micropollutants. The project is part of this research programme.
Cooperation partners
- Institut für Energie- und Umwelttechnik e.V. (IUTA) Duisburg (coordination)
- Emschergenossenschaft / Lippeverband (EG/LV) Essen
- Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz (FHNW Basel) Muttenz
- Forschungsinstitut für Wasser- und Abfallwirtschaft an der RWTH Aachen e.V. (FiW)
- Grontmij GmbH Köln
- Institut für Siedlungswasserwirtschaft der RWTH Aachen (ISA)
- Institut für Wasserforschung GmbH Schwerte
- Ruhrforschungsinstitut für Innovations- und Strukturpolitik e.V. (RUFIS) Bochum
- Ruhrverband (RV) Essen
- Universität Duisburg-Essen, Lehrstuhl für Betriebswirtschaftslehre, insb. Umweltwirtschaft und Controlling (UWCON)
Client
Ministry for Climate Protection, Environment, Agriculture, Nature Conservation and Consumer Protection of North Rhine-Westphalia
Duration
Contact person
Project team
Project Links
Related projects
- Assessment of the potential for the use of service water in Frankfurt am Main
- Application platform for an automated forecasting of the daily water demand in Hamburg
- AQUA-Hub India – Water Innovation Hubs and Smart Water Monitoring
- AquaticPollutantsTransNet – Knowledge transfer for the reduction of pollutants and pathogens in the water cycle
- Drugs for man and the environment?
- Accompanying research for groundwater development at the site “Heiliger Born”
- Substitution of Environmental Relevant Flame Retardants
- BioFAVOR II – Low-tech recycling of faeces from decentralised sources
- CapTain Rain – Capture and retain heavy rainfalls in Jordan
- ChemKom – Strategic science communication on the risks of perpetuity chemicals
- CuveWaters – Sustainable Water Management in Namibia
- Efficient Use of the Hessian Groundwater Fee
- EPoNa – Water Reuse in Northern Namibia
- Evaluation of the International Water Stewardship Program (IWaSP)
- gwTriade – Integrative monitoring of groundwater quality
- HypoWave – New Pathways Towards Wastewater Re-Use in Agriculture
- HypoWave+ – Implementation of a hydroponic system for sustainable water reuse in agriculture
- INTAFERE – Integrated Analysis of Organic Impurities in Rivers
- IWRM in Isfahan – Sustainable Water Management in Iran
- IntenKS – Improving sewage sludge treatment in China for energetic and material utilisation
- INTERESS-I – Integrated strategies to strengthen urban blue-green infrastructures
- Classification of consumption points in the supply area of HAMBURG WASSER
- KomKlAn – Status and Progress of Municipal Climate Adaptation in Germany
- Communication Strategies for the Handling of Pharmaceuticals
- Competence Atlas Water – Water Technologies and Water Management in Hesse
- KREIS – Innovative municipal wastewater system in ‘Jenfelder Au’
- Guiding principle IWRM – Water resources management for the metropolitan region of Rhine-Main
- LiveSewer – KI-basiertes Abwassermonitoring
- Privatisation and Competition in Drinking Water Supply in Germany
- Master Plan “Future-proof Drinking Water Supply in Saarland 2040”
- MORE STEP – Mobility at Risk: Sustaining the Mongolian Steppe Ecosystem (Phase II)
- MULTI-ReUse – Modular treatment system for water reuse
- Sustainability Performance in the Water Supply
- NaCoSi – Sustainability controlling of the domestic water management
- netWORKS – Transformations in Network Related Infrastructure Sectors
- netWORKS 2 – Transformation Management for a Sustainable Water Infrastructure
- netWORKS 3 – Sustainable concepts for the municipal water sector
- netWORKS 4 – Resilient networks: how urban supply systems contribute to climate justice
- netWORKS 4 – Resilient networks: Contributions of urban supply systems to climate justice (follow-up project)
- New perspectives for the ecological restoration of streams and rivers
- NiddaMan – Sustainable Water Resources Management in the Nidda Catchment Area
- P-Net – Regional network for resource-efficient phosphorus recycling and management
- Pharmas – Ecological and human health risk assessment of antibiotics and anticancer drugs found in the environment
- PLASTRAT – Reduction of plastic discharges in lakes and running waters
- PlastX – Microplastics in bodies of running water
- PlastX – Plastic waste in seas and oceans
- Quali-Set-Praxis - Practical Quality Assurance & Management in Health Promoting Settings
- Privatisation in the Water Sector
- Stormwater Infiltration in Wiesbaden
- Regional Sustainability in Water and Land Use
- regulate – Sustainable Groundwater Management in Europe
- Repack-network: sustainable food packaging
- RobustNature – Robustness of Nature-Society Systems in the Anthropocene
- SASSCAL – Research Infrastructure in Africa
- SASSCAL – Water-related vulnerabilities and risk in Southern Africa
- SAUBER+ Innovative concepts for wastewater from public health sector facilities
- SCIP Plastics – Strengthening Waste Prevention in Khulna and Reducing Marine Plastic Pollution
- Semizentral – Infrastructure systems for cities of the future experiencing rapid growth
- Smart Water Future India: Intelligent Water Management for India’s Cities
- SoCuLa – Socio-cultural Drivers of Biodiversity Change in Germany
- Tracking down micropollutants
- start – Management Strategies for Pharmaceuticals in Drinking Water
- start2 – Management Strategies for Hormonally Active Agrochemicals
- Material flows of environmentally relevant chemical substances: product line controlling
- Structural concept for Trinkwasserversorgung Magdeburg
- TransRisk – Pollutants as a risk to the water cycle
- TRAPA India – Transition pathways for solving urban wastewater problems in Indian cities
- Daily drinking water demand – forecast model for Hamburg
- Environmental Risks and Pharmaceuticals: The Key Role of Pharmacies
- WaReNam – Mehrskalige Wasserwiederverwendungsstrategie für Namibia
- Water 2050 – Sustainable Innovations for Water Management
- Water demand forecast 2030 (base year 2005) for Hamburg
- Water demand forecast 2045 (base year 2011) for Hamburg
- Water demand forecast 2050 (base year 2017) for Hamburg
- Water demand forecast 2050 (base year 2019) for the WBV Harburg
- Water demand forecast 2050 (base year 2020) for Hamburg
- Water Cycle an Urban-Ecological Development
- Proxies and Scenarios for the Development of Water Demand
- Weschnitz Dialog: Communication and participation in the management of restoration measures along the river Weschnitz
- Scientific accompanying of the 2021 survey on water consumption in Hamburg
- Scientific support for the Frankfurt project “Smart Water Management”
- Conflicts of objectives between the application of medications and environmental protection
- The current and future state of our water resources