4 months ago, the newly founded Institute for Sustainable Water Systems (inwa) at Hof University of Applied Sciences. The research groups "Water Infrastructure and Digitalisation", "Photonics and Water", "Sustainability and Project Management in Water Management" and "Resource-efficient Food Production" have come together under its umbrella and are committed to a sustainable and holistic approach to the most important foodstuff, water. Prof Günter Müller-Czygan, head of "inwa", provides information on the status of development and initial projects.
Prof Müller-Czygan, what is the status of the restructuring?
"Even though our colleagues in the research groups are currently still spread across different buildings, we are working closely together and coordinating many aspects of content and organisation in good time. The university management has now granted us the necessary funds for the organisation of the institute, for which we would like to thank them once again. We can now organise the staffing and material resources for the institute. We have also been able to set up a regular staff meeting. Here, the Institute management reports on news and colleagues report on their projects and present their ideas for the Institute's further development. I would like to take this opportunity to personally thank the heads of our research groups and all colleagues who have placed their trust in me as the new head of the institute."
How many employees work for the new institute and what are their tasks?
"The Institute's work will be supported by a research coordinator and an assistant - the positions will be officially filled successively from 01.09.2023. The focus of these functions is on the one hand the organisation of the formal Institute processes, on the other hand the support of the research groups in funding projects as well as the identification of ongoing funding projects and new funding priorities. In addition, there will soon be a one-year position for the topic of water self-sufficiency - the person to be selected will look at the potential of water resource efficiency and reuse at the university and develop implementation proposals. We will also receive further support in the area of communication over the course of the year. I would also like to mention that the research group leaders regularly liaise closely with each other, making inwa a clear representative of the research groups."
Do you have the impression that the new organisation has already been accepted internally and externally - for example in the business world?
"From the discussions we have had so far, I have realised that the region's partners from industry and local authorities in particular have taken note of the division of the old Institute for Water and Energy Management and can also understand it well. So far, there has only been positive feedback, especially in light of the water problems caused by climate change. We are pleased that there is clearly visible water expertise at Hof University of Applied Sciences, which is also confirmed by the increasing number of contacts with inwa with various current issues."
Research activity continues unabated: among other things, there are probably three newly approved projects in the starting blocks. What exactly are they about?
"In the broadest sense, all three new projects are concerned with innovative measures to secure future water resources. This involves the removal of so-called trace substances from water, for example to use purified wastewater as a substitute for expensive drinking water in special cases.
- In the project "Rubin - PhoTech"funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, the "Photonics and Water" research group headed by Prof. Dr Tobias Schnabel is working on the further development of photocatalysts through additive manufacturing and new coating systems. Here, Prof Schnabel is exploring new ways of removing pollutants from water and air using specially coated glass spheres that trigger a chemical reaction solely through solar radiation in order to break down pollutants. While the vast majority of process solutions for the removal of so-called trace substances (e.g. drug residues) require a lot of energy, solar photocatalysis enables a virtually energy-free reduction of pollutants.
- The other two projects "ReUse" and "IntelliFluQs" are part of my research group "Water Infrastructure and Digitalisation". In "ReUse"funded by the Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt and the Oberfrankenstiftung, is concerned with the digital, intelligent networking of different process solutions for the removal of trace substances with the use of renewable energies. Currently, control systems in wastewater processes work independently of the availability of energy, especially when renewable energies are used. A test plant at the Scheid wastewater treatment plant in the town of Waldeck am Edersee (North Hesse) will be used to investigate how wastewater treatment processes can be controlled in such a way that the available (renewable) energy can be optimally utilised and, ideally, 100 % of the energy supply can be provided by renewable energies. Battery storage systems will also be used for this purpose.
- The project "IntelliFluQs" is being funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate as part of the ZIM SME programme. A new type of control module is being developed for wastewater treatment process stages for the removal of trace substances, which can use artificial intelligence to specifically set different cleaning results. Currently, such process stages are set to maximise the cleaning result, which requires a corresponding amount of energy. As mentioned, we expect a strong increase in the area of wastewater reuse. However, the same water quality does not always have to be provided for the various uses. If treated wastewater is required to clean sewer systems, for example, a lower purification quality is required than if the water is used for irrigation purposes. The new control module uses data from the wastewater reusers to calculate the required wastewater quality, adjusts the process to this target value and "produces" the desired wastewater. This means that only as much energy is used as is actually needed.
We are also expecting further funding decisions from our application activities over the last 6-12 months in the coming weeks."
That's very good news. Where do you see inwa in a year's time?
"The topic of water is increasingly taking centre stage in social debates due to the rapid increase in the impact of climate change.
Whereas just 2-3 years ago, public debate focussed solely on the risk of heavy rainfall/flooding, concerns about water scarcity as a result of increasingly extreme and prolonged periods of drought are growing rapidly. With the new projects presented, we are making an important point when it comes to securing water resources in the course of climate change adaptation.
Prof Günter Müller-Czygan
Another aspect in relation to water is securing our foundations for resource-conserving food production, which is the focus of Dr Harvey Harbach's research group. The greatest demand is currently in the area of the so-called sponge city/region, where municipalities and cities in our region in particular are looking for effective solutions to deal with the complexity of the consequences of extreme weather events. Prof. Dr Manuela Wimmer, head of the "Sustainability and PM in Water Management" research group, and I are currently preparing the establishment of a new "Sponge Region" competence and transfer centre, which for the first time will focus on sustainable and holistic solutions for dealing with extreme weather events, including the development of new analysis and planning methods. In light of these aspects, I expect that inwa will be able to play a special role in relation to the topic of water and climate change in Bavaria and beyond in a year's time."
Thank you very much!
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