Turn wastewater into drinking water? Xylem has the solution and is developing it with the Technical University Munich. Together they are working on a process to treat wastewater and turn it back into drinking water. In this way, wastewater could be used again as a reliable resource.
Prof. Dr. Jörg Drewes, Urban Water Systems Engineering - TU Munich
„The combination of processes that we have put together here is very, very attractive in terms of energy. So, we have bacteria that are already doing a lot of the work, in principle without having to put a lot of energy into it. Secondly, we don't produce residuals.“
The municipal wastewater first goes through a sequential biofiltration in which bacteria are used to remove all organic trace substances. Salts, pharmaceuticals and viruses are then filtered out through ultra-fine membranes. What remains, are water molecules that eventually gain drinking water quality with the use of UV light and hydrogen peroxide.
A cost-effective, sustainable and efficient alternative to the fourth purification stage. What happens to the water now?
Prof. Dr. Jörg Drewes, Sanitary Enviromental Engineering - TU München
„We thought about a convincing end product that we could provide here. And that‘s why we don‘t just want to provide drinking water; thanks to appropriate analysis and analysis results, we have guaranteed safe drinking water. But we want to go one step further by producing brewing water, from which we can then produce beer.“
No sooner said than done. 10 days later at the Research Brewery in Weihenstephan: in accordance with the Bavarian purity law, malt, yeast and hops are now added to the purified Water. The crushed malt is mixed with water. Various temperature levels up to 78°C, stimulate the enzymatic degradation processes. Finally, liquid and solid matter are separated in the straining vat. Hops add the familiar aroma after boiling. Yeast triggers the main fermentation phase. The use of waste water opens up new possibilities for the future.
Jan-Karl Nielebock, Application Manager Food & Beverage, Xylem
„In the food sector we have to solve a variety of tasks where water is needed. It's about cooling processes, it's about boiler feed water, which I need in one form or another.“
Back to beer again. A wonderful lager is brewed here. It's a real treat.
Jan-Karl Nielebock, Application Manager Food & Beverage, Xylem
„The smell of hops, malt, the wort that boils. Some find it rather disgusting. I think it's wonderful, great. It just makes me really happy, this olfactory perception. And very important, of course, is the sensory quality control.“
The first test. What do the experts say?
Jan-Karl Nielebock, Application Manager Food & Beverage, Xylem
„Fine. Pure taste, beautiful colour.“
You can try the "Reuse Brew" for yourself at IFAT 2020. Cheers everyone!
14 окт 2024
