Project information

submitted by
Tabea Link

Co-Authors
Prof. Dr. Mark Jentsch, Sebastian Büttner, Nicole Meyer

Mentors
Prof. Dr. Mark Jentsch

Faculty:
Civil and Environmental Engineering

Degree programme:
Environmental Engineering (Master of Science (M.Sc.))

Type of project presentation
Research project

Semester
– Other –

Links
http://www.localhy.de

Contributors:
AVX/Kumatec Hydrogen GmbH & Co. KG, isle Steuerungstechnik und Leistungselektronik GmbH, sera ComPress GmbH, WTZ Roßlau gGmbH, Wasserwerke Sonneberg, Fraunhofer-Center für Silizium-Photovoltaik CSP

Project description

The collaborative research and development project LocalHy with 7 partners from industry and academia forms part of the initiative Zwanzig20 - HYPOS Hydrogen Power Storage & Solutions East Germany funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

It aims at developing a distributed electrolysis system for decentralized hydrogen production and use to be installed on a municipal sewage work. A special feature is the dual orientation of the system: In addition to H2 production for mobility and re-conversion to electricity, the use of oxygen, a "waste product" of the electrolysis process, for wastewater treatment is also being investigated.

The subproject of the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar is looking at the potential of employing oxygen from the electrolysis in the aeration basins of municipal sewage works in lieu of aeration fans. To this end, the test facility has been designed for investigating ways of optimizing the oxygen distribution in water. A scaled experimental sewage treatment plant has been constructed. This plant consists of two streets with aeration basin and final sedimentation for 100 residents each in order to investigate oxygen aeration in comparison to conventional operation with aeration fans.

Initial tests showed that the oxygen supplied by the electrolysis of water can be used in conventional wastewater treatment plants with limited adaptation requirements, while maintaining or even improving the clarification performance.

Email: sebastian.buettner[at]uni-weimar.de