••• 7 ••• Branchennews Research project explores newways Biorefinery project KoalAplan is extracting raw materials from wastewater The Ministry of the Environment, Climate Protection and the Energy Sector is funding the KoalAplan project, which extends the functional scope of a wastewater treatment plant. The project, based in the Stuttgart district of Büsnau, aims at recovering raw materials from wastewater and is therefore making a positive contribution to climate neutrality, as the products obtained replace fossil raw materials and energyintensive processes. In a conventional wastewater treatment plant, the nitrogen contained in the wastewater undergoes biological degradation. Microorganisms convert the nitrogen compounds into gaseous nitrogen, which escapes unused into the atmosphere. For the conversion process, the microorganisms require organic carbon, which is no longer available as a feedstock but is discharged as CO2 and sewage sludge. “We are bypassing biological nitrogen removal in our project and would like to demonstrate that we can recover a large part of the organic load from wastewater,” explains Professor Harald Horn, Head of Research at the EnglerBunte-Institut. The KoalAplan project intends to highlight the recycling potential in wastewater treatment. The projected recovery of the products hydrogen, bioplastics and nitrogen/phosphorus fertiliser can significantly reduce resource consumption. At the same time, energy-intensive processes will be replaced and emissions reduced. The project is considered an integral part of the Ministry’s strategy to build a sustainable bioeconomy in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg. Based on this strategy the state government supports the change to a raw material-efficient and cycleoriented economy using renewable and biological resources. The project is funded by the Ministry of the Environment, Climate Protection and the Energy Sector Baden-Württemberg as part of the European Regional Development Fund funding programme “Bioeconomy – Biorefineries for the recovery of raw materials from waste and wastewater”. The project aims at recovering raw materials from wastewater Foto: Pixabay berlinerwasser.de Besuchen Sie uns in Halle B2, Stand 329
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