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Solutions
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Water analysis Conducting and evaluating physical-chemical and microbiological water testing in accordance with the German Drinking Water Ordinance and other relevant legal regulations. -
Testing of products and devices Initial testing of products and materials in contact with drinking water. Our Test Centre is accredited for more than 200 different product standards according to DIN EN ISO 17025. Test and develop UV technology. -
Treatment technologies Develop sustainable water supply concepts. Implement, monitor and optimise new technologies. Test and further develop existing treatment methods. -
Micropollutants and microorganisms Develop and improve the method of determination using cutting-edge equipment. Investigate the presence, behaviour and retention of inorganic and organic micropollutants in the water cycle and drinking water treatment. -
Network management and drinking water installation Microbiological quality change, deposit formation and cleaning and optimisation of the distribution network operation. Evaluate and analyse corrosion damage. -
Risk management Support for water supply companies to establish a Water Safety Plan. Benefit from our extensive expertise. -
Environmental biotechnology and contaminated sites Evaluation of the decomposition potential at contaminated locations. Development of sustainable ways to eliminate pollutants from the environment. Employ a combination of microbiological and technical methods.
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Research
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Resource protection Protection of water resources, risk management in water catchment areas -
Environmental biotechnology Technical and biological methods for the elimination of microorganisms, microbiological degradation processes -
Microorganisms Developing and applying reliable and sensitive detection methods, evaluating disinfection and treatment measures -
Micropollutants Determination of micropollutants, transformation products and microplastics reliably and sensitively, investigate behaviour in the water cycle, qualified risk assessment -
Waste water and water cycle Use of biological decomposition, developing integrated water supply and waste water management concepts -
New technologies and products Testing and optimizing processes and products to treat, disinfect and post-process drinking water for efficiency, security and robustness -
Asset management and infrastructure Development of management strategies and innovative tools to evaluate the condition of the supply network and its components -
Safety and security, digitalisation and management Digital transformation in public drinking water supply, increase the safety and security of drinking water supply
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- Projects
- About TZW
- Information
Micropollutants
Micropollutants in sewage treatment plant processes, rivers, streams and drinking water resources are of top priority for the water industry and require the continuous development of new analytical procedures. Only once these substances can be reliably determined at a suitable sensitivity level, is it possible to investigate their behaviour in the water cycle and in the treatment of drinking water, and to make a qualified risk assessment. Biotic and abiotic processes in aquatic systems and in technical water treatment can metabolise substances, which means we also need to research the clarification of these transformation products. For this we are using the latest high-resolution mass spectrometry processes. A new research area is the presence of microplastics in the aquatic environment. We have awarded this topic a special research priority.
Research areas
Development of new analytical procedures
The availability of reliable and efficient methods of analysis is a basic requirement for implementing meaningful scientific testing programmes and for a qualified risk assessment. Developing these methods using the latest high performance analytical techniques such as tandem mass spectrometry is one of our core competencies.
Environmental behaviour of substances
Nature based water treatment needs to be the aim of all parties involved in water supply. For example, in order to assess the efficiency of soil passage for the micropollutant residue, we use theoretical and experimental approaches to determine reliable estimations on the environmental behaviour of the respective substance and targeted recommended actions.
Substance behaviour in technical treatment
Water supply companies must be well equipped for all eventualities. Testing on how to remove possible problem substances using technical treatment methods such as ozonation, activated carbon and membrane filtration is therefore part of our research.
Transformation products
Substances do not disappear – they transform. Using methods such as high-resolution mass spectrometry, we identify in detail which transformation products are produced in a chemical or biological process.
Microplastics
The presence of microplastics in the aquatic environment has attracted widespread public interest. At present, there are only a few reliable studies available. For this reason, we aim to close knowledge gaps and are concerned with issues of representative sampling and sample preparation, further development of analytical techniques and investigating the presence of microplastics in drinking and surface water.
Projects
Zero Pollution of Persistent, Mobile substances (ZeroPM)
Persistent, mobile (PM) substances are being recognized as serious threats to the safety of water resources. In many cases, drinking water supplies…
Read moreNew microbiological parameters of the EU-DWD
In the EU Drinking Water Directive adopted in January 2021, an operational part was included as an important innovation in Annex II for raw water and…
Read morePublications
TZW Publication Series Volume 84: Minimierungsstrategie für den PSM-Metaboliten-Eintrag ins Grundwasser [Strategy to minimise PSM metabolites entering groundwater]
TZW Publication Series Volume 78: Verhalten von Phosphonaten als Antiscalants bei der Membranfiltration [Behaviour of phosphonates as antiscalants in membrane filtration]
TZW Publication Series Volume 62: Elimination anthropogener organischer Spurenstoffe im Zuge der Grundwasseranreicherung [Elimination of anthropogenic organic micropollutants during groundwater enrichment]
TZW Publication Series Volume 59: Bewertung von Transformationsprodukten bei der Trinkwasseraufbereitung [Assessment of transformation products in drinking water treatment]
Volumes from the TZW publication series can be purchased here.
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