Institute of Environmental Engineering (ISA)
Presentation of the Institute
The ISA conducts research on current topics in wastewater disposal, water quality, water reuse, environmental analysis, and resource management. Scientists with background in various engineering disciplines and natural sciences work on projects ranging from basic research to optimization on an industrial scale. The analysis of all environmental matrices up to the ultra-trace range is carried out in our own laboratory. Always considered are current and upcoming legal requirements to which responses are to be found by new technologies.
"We need to close material cycles to push back the annual Earth Overshoot Day."
Dr.-Ing. David Montag
The resource management group focuses on the recovery of phosphorus and other nutrients as well as the recovery of technology metals from sewage sludge and sewage sludge ash. In addition, animal manure and biowaste are important material flows for the research in the working group. Besides that, wastewater as a resource for the purpose of water reuse will gain importance in Germany due to the consequences of climate change.
Amongst others, our research is targeted at the optimization of individual processes, whilst the ecologic integral balance is always taken into consideration. Also, back coupling on upstream process steps or consequential effects elsewhere are considered to develop holistic solutions in the field of resource protection. In this context, conceptual work, modelling and experiments from laboratory scale to scientific support of large-scale piloting are used in a tailored combination. Thanks to a mix of experienced employees and doctoral students, topics of the Circular Economy can be ideally researched, and new findings generated in the resource management group.