The German Research Foundation (DFG) granted a new Research Training Group „Valuable Wastewater (WERA) – Recovery of Critical Raw Materials – by the Example of Phosphorus“ (Spokesperson: Prof. Sergiy Antonyuk, Deputy Spokesperson: Prof. Heidrun Steinmetz). This interdisciplinary Research Training Group is jointly supported by professors from four departments RPTU (Mechanical and Process Engineering, Civil Engineering, Chemistry and Physics). The first five-year funding phase will begin in July 2024.
Research areas
The establishment of a circular economy, in which raw materials are recovered, is essential for sustainable economic development. Therefore, the research on the corresponding physicochemical and technical processes in close cooperation between engineers and natural scientists is of central importance. Using the example of phosphorus as a critical raw material, the Research Training Group WERA is investigating methods and processes for recovering raw materials from wastewater.
In WERA, a fundamentals-based approach is pursued in which various subprocesses, such as the synthesis of tailor-made adsorbent materials and innovative separation processes for elimination and recovery of phosphorus, are combined into process chains and studied at a jointly operated wastewater treatment and recycling plant in a half-technical scale. The development of methods for process analysis and characterization as well as molecular and thermodynamic simulations contributes to a better understanding of the complex processes in the heterogeneous, only partially defined wastewater system and lays the foundations for efficient processes for phosphorus recovery. The experience and knowledge gained can be transferred to many other fields of the circular economy.
The WERA Research Training Group is focused on the interdisciplinary training of young scientists in this important field. In the first funding period, 22 PhD students will perform investigations on phosphorus elimination and phosphorus recovery in close cooperation in WERA.