Fraunhofer Water Systems Alliance (SysWasser)
In a joint project entitled “Innovative integrated water infrastructure and water utilization concepts“, or “InWasif“ in short from the German abbreviation, ten of the twelve Institutes belonging to the Water Systems Alliance are busy developing detailed concepts for the sustainable and regenerative utilization of water in urban environments. Their solutions for autonomous infrastructures are ideal for areas in need of major redevelopment such as former military barracks, closed down mining sites and urban settlement areas.
The main aim of the “InWasif“ project is to use regenerative methods to improve the quality of rainwater, process water and wastewater in order to make it suitable for a multitude of purposes. Automatic process monitoring and control ensure that the chosen methods are reliable in practice.
The policy behind such concepts is to use valuable water more than once, thus saving costs for both local authorities and consumers. At present, the commodity is treated expensively for one single purpose and then again treated expensively as wastewater before it is discharged into surface water although it could easily be used for a secondary purpose after suitable treatment.
Technologies
Appropriate technologies for many forms of treatment have been developed, adapted and improved to meet these requirements. These include e.g.
- electrophysical and electrochemical water treatment
- a new vacuum/pressure transport system for wastewater
- innovative dynamic filtration technologies
- technologies for cleaning membrane filters in situ during operation
- recycling technologies to make use of substances found in wastewater
- recovering residual heat from greywater
- using rainwater for firefighting systems and airconditioning buildings.
These can be integrated in master systems to control entire buildings and factories.
The wide choice of modules at disposal makes it easy to adapt these innovative water management concepts to provide solutions for any individual location. In doing so, the “InWasif“ partners are careful to include such important aspects as energy and waste management as well as traffic and transport logistics for the region in question. Financing concepts such as BOT or BOOT models can also be integrated.