As part of the 5^th Energy Research Program of the Federal Government on Bio-waste Recycling, large scale experiments on energy efficient bio-waste recycling will be carried out on the composting plant of the Entsorgungsgesellschaft Westmünsterland mbH (EGW).

Unlike conventional composting methods, an energy-rich organic liquid phase is gained by scrubbing (percolation) and pressing of fresh bio-waste, which can then be fed into a digestion plant. The percolation residue or the press cake will be further processed to compost, in the best composting practice, and thus serves as a soil conditioner.

Project objective is to transfer the easily degredable organics of biological waste in a liquid phase, to reduce the specific energy requirements of the composting process, and simultaneously to produce biogas by fermentation of the obatined bio-suspensions. In addition, this study also evaluates to what extent this new process variant effects the composting time, energy consumption and compost quality. As project participant the Department of Municipal Water and Waste Management carries out the test concerning the process water and examins its applicability as a fermentation material for the production of electrically and thermally usable energy.

Within the scope of this year's SummerUniversity for young women in science and engineering 2010 (from August 09. to 13.) the Department of Municipal Water- and Waste Management offers an insight into its main subject areas for interested schoolgirls. Tours of in-house pilot plants on a laboratory scale as well as the performance of basic analytic methods will give the students the opportunity to understand the role of microorganisms in wastewater treatment and waste management. In addition, microsopic studies are intended to provide an impression of the microbial habitat, while allowing a rough differentiation of the active biocenosis.

Also this year, the Department of Municipal Water- and Waste Management will be represented at the international IFAT Entsorga in Munich. The fair is the world's most important trade fair for innovations, new products and services in the areas of water-, waste water-, waste- and resources management and lasts from 13 - 17/09/2010.

For Master program students the Department of Municipal Water- and Waste Management offers an excursion to the trade fair in the period of September 15 to 18, 2010 (incl. a visit to KA, MVA, wood gasification plant and the old town of Munich). If you are interested, please note the poster in corridor V15 R05 or talk to Mr. Keser directly for more information. Registration deadline is June 9, 2010.

Within the scope of the affirmative action “sustainable design for climate change in our regions (KLIMZUG)” of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) the project "DynAKlim" started at the beginning of July. 13 project partners developed adjustment strategies to the climate change in the Emscher-Lippe-Region in North-Rhine Westphalia. The main focus of the researches lies within the effects of the climate change on the availability and utilization of water and the secondary effects on population, economy and environment. The Department of Municipal Water- and Waste Management concentrates on the development of a procedure for a life cycle assessment (climate gas emission and resource consumption) from measures and measure packages which must be met to the adjustment of the climate change. Hereunto will be counted structures for the storm-water storage,-effluent and -treatment.

Since 1997 the savings bank at the Lower Rhine promotes outstanding doctoral dissertations, diploma-, master-, and bachelor theses from the field of engineering sciences. This year Mr. Phillip Limbourg doctor of engineering was promoted due to his doctoral dissertation, as well as Mr. Bejamin Keser certified engineer due to his diploma thesis. Keser wrote his final paper on the subject of „Integration of a Phosphate Analyzer into a Pro-active Maintenance Concept” at the Department of Municipal Water- and Waste Management at the University of Duisburg-Essen. Mr. Keser, who was promoted by water scholarship Ruhr and supported by the measuring device manufacturer Endress + Hauser, spent the majority of his working time at the Franco-Canadian University of Laval in Québec. There he carried out a survey at an online measuring device, with which he developed a new concept that enables online analyzers to examine and recognize their measuring accuracy, knowing when they require their next maintenance. Thus the goal of this concept is to increase the measuring accuracy and the data quality as well as to minimize the maintenance expenses and costs. The honors, which are endowed with € 2000 each, were presented to the two winners by the chairman of the board of the savings bank at the Lower Rhine on the alumni annual celebration on July 24th 2009.

The booster club SiWaWi (registered association) organizes a seminar about “Innovative gas management for the optimization of the dumping behavior” on Thursday, January 29th 2009. Patrons of the one-day seminar are Prof. Dr.-Ing. R. Widmann from the University of Duisburg-Essen and Prof. Dr.-Ing. J. Jager from the University of Technology Darmstadt. During the seminar the modifications of the Landfill Ordinance will be presented by Dr. Tiedt from the Environmental Commission in North-Rhine Westphalia. Further international speakers from the fields of isotope measurement, modeling and on-site measurement, will point out the most important innovations within these fields. Please take the detailed program and the registration form the flyer. For a binding registration you can also use our registration portal.

Each of our speakers provided an abstract of their lectures. By clicking on the respective speaker the relevant pdf-document uncloses.

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WISE (Waste in Social Environment) is a program financed by the European Union, which addresses itself to postgraduate students and young scientists from the fields of municipal water- and waste management. From October 5th to 10th the fourth totaling six WISE - class to the subject „Secondary Raw Materials”, took place on Malta.

Among the 35 participants from all of Europe, Mohammed A. Darbonab, Ivonne Görzt and Benjamin Keser represented the department of municipal water- and waste management of the University of Duisburg Essen.

Apart from lectures of experts from politics, research (among others Dr. M. Denecke of the University of Duisburg Essen) and industry visits of technical plants gave attendants a deep insight of the prior art of local purification plants, landfills and recycling stations. In a workshop of several days the participants were divided into groups and waste engineering problems of the island Malta were questioned with the help of Maltese students, analyzed and approaches to solving the problem were made. At the close of the five days lasting workshop the results were presented to the other participants as well as experts and discussed.

In the second week of October the winter semester 2008/2009 begins. The Department of Municipal Water- and Waste Management offers numerous lectures within the Masters Infrastructure and Environment. Here you will find the offer for all lectures and additional information.

At present the occupational outlook for graduates of the Masters Infrastructure and Environment are very good. Both public employers such municipalities and authorities and private employers such as engineer’s offices and industry increasingly search for graduates with this vocational education. Everyone who wants to get more exact information about the job outline will find them at the Federal Employment Agency.

After Katrin Sturm successfully completed all examinations for her bachelor’s degree within six semesters, the future civil engineer decided to go to Australia. There, at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, she wants to write her bachelor’s thesis. She will be financially supported by the water scholarship Ruhr, which will be advertised annually by the Ruhrverband for outstanding students who are dealing with the issue of water. During her six-month stay, she will deal with the development of biofilms and the formation of acids in the sewers.