Sustainable solutions as part of our corporate philosophy
REMONDIS’ slogan is ‘Working for the future’. This primarily refers to our commitment to future-proof circular economy and water management. However, it also implies that we are generally creating solutions for the world of tomorrow. We are therefore very active in the field of research and development. Our focus is on application-oriented product and process development, through which we aim to generate added value for our customers. One measure of how successful we are in this regard is the fact that much of what we work on in research and development finds its way into our service portfolio. In this way, we continually open up innovative possibilities in modern water management for our customers. For us, development work means identifying problems in operations and in practice, devising solutions and making them available to our customers.
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Our TetraPhos® and REPHOS® phosphorus recovery systems are both perfect examples of research projects that successfully made it from the drawing board to market
Digital water management
Digital solutions are being used more and more in water management. We at REMONDIS Aqua also see great potential in this area and always take digitalisation into account when it comes to water management. It is therefore no surprise that this plays a major role in our Research and Development department. Much of the focus at present is on data collection as the foundation for all the added value that can be created through digitalisation – ranging from early-warning systems for flooding to complex forecasting models in network management.
The Industry 4.0 maturity index
Capturing data is an important milestone on the path towards complex AI solutions
Internet of Things – Seeing clearly what had previously been hidden
The Internet of Things (IoT) is increasingly finding its way into the water management sector and is opening up some completely new opportunities, for example in the area of flood protection. Low power sensors can be used to transmit the water levels of rivers, canals and retention basins to flood management systems in real time. This is a genuine bonus in these times of climate change and ever more frequent heavy rainfall events as these systems help to grow levels of efficiency and safety. Which is why we are committed to driving forward the whole subject of IoT and are constantly looking at new ways to not only make data from networks and other types of infrastructure available but also to visualise this data and make it more generally usable. For example by transferring it into smart models (think ‘digital twin’ here). Tangible results can already be seen at Lake Constance and in Goslar, where we are currently developing IoT systems. By capturing data using a combination of battery-run low power sensors and LoRaWAN® radio technology, these regions are able to operate innovative water management 4.0 systems that are creating a whole host of benefits. The sensors can, for example, permanently monitor and detect when water has been discharged into the sewer network by third parties, helping to save energy and prevent the system from being overloaded. Furthermore, the captured data is perfect for creating hydraulic wastewater models that make it easier to not only maintain established plants and facilities but also to plan new ones.
REMONDIS Aqua was one of the partner institutions working on the ‘Extreme weather management with digital multiscale methods’ project – known simply as EXDIMUM – which was sponsored by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research
Developing and optimising industrial wastewater processes
Making the very most of our years of expertise, we are constantly optimising the processes used in the areas of industrial and municipal wastewater treatment and water production. Our experienced plant operations team collaborates closely with our engineering department to continuously develop innovative technology and methods of approach. We primarily focus on optimising energy and material recovery using anaerobic processes (RE2Energy), on biological wastewater treatment (deammonification) as well as on optimising the combination of processes used to close industrial wastewater cycles (Zero Liquid Discharge).
In general, we use all available ways and opportunities to efficiently develop solutions and bring them to market. As a result, we use the know-how of our experts to build and operate pilot and test facilities. What’s more, we also regularly take part in international research projects. Just one example here is the WOW! project which is looking into how raw materials, such as lipids, cellulose and bioplastics, can be recovered from sewage.
Heading towards the bio-electrochemical fuel cell
Our subsidiary EURAWASSER is one of the six partner institutions working on an exciting project focusing on wastewater treatment and the energy transition and this is a great opportunity for us to pass on our expertise in the area of municipal wastewater treatment. The participants are looking to develop a very special type of fuel cell, in which microorganisms act as biocatalysts and produce electricity by breaking down the organic substances in the wastewater. The overall aim of this particular project – which is sponsored by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and involves institutions such as the Clausthal University of Technology – is to set up a pilot scheme to develop, investigate and evaluate such a bio-electrochemical fuel cell. Research work is also to be carried out to examine what installation options are viable in a sewage treatment plant and the effect such a fuel cell might have on overall plant operations.
Would you like to find out more about our research and development work? Then simply get in touch with us.
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