Biological wastewater treatment with enzymes

The contamination of wastewater from households and industry with heavy metals and dissolved trace substances—such as additives and pharmaceuticals—is steadily increasing across Europe. Since these dissolved compounds are difficult or even impossible to biodegrade and can accumulate in the environment, plants, and animals with unknown effects, environmental regulations for wastewater treatment and water reuse in the EU are becoming increasingly stringent. However, these trace substances do not sediment and, due to their nano- and micrometer-scale size, pass through conventional filtration systems. Moreover, because of their low bioavailability, they are barely degraded biologically in wastewater treatment plants, making it ever more challenging to comply with EU environmental standards.

The “Aachen Network for Waste Water Reuse (AIX-Net-WWR)” (consortium coordination: INTEWA GmbH, Oliver Ringelstein) is paving the way toward a sustainable, decentralized, and economically viable water supply and wastewater management system for the near future. Using innovative technologies, wastewater is converted into reclaimed water of appropriate quality for reuse in residential districts, agriculture, or industry. Additionally, heat and valuable resources contained in the wastewater are recovered and reused.

Through a regional focus, the consortium makes a significant contribution to local structural transformation, while also addressing global challenges such as water and resource scarcity and climate change.

In the project AIX-SOLVED (“Advanced Treatment Stages for the Removal of Dissolved Substances”), a purification process is being developed in which the adsorbent granulates FerroSorp® and ALFERROCK® are biofunctionalized with enzymes, enabling the adsorption and/or degradation of dissolved substances. As part of the project, a prototype will be developed and tested—both on a laboratory scale and in pilot trials on a demonstrator—using three different types of substances as examples.

The Fraunhofer IME’s role in the subproject TP02-05 – “Development of Biotechnological Production Processes for Enzymes in Plants” involves the plant-based production platform for manufacturing enzymes used in wastewater treatment. The process will be developed in such a way that it can be directly implemented in an industrial environment, particularly by the participating SMEs, and scaled up to the desired production level.