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Solutions
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Water analysis Conducting and evaluating physical-chemical and microbiological water testing in accordance with German Drinking Water Ordinance and other regulations.
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Testing of products and devices Initial testing of products and materials in contact with drinking water. The test centre is accredited for more than 200 product standards.
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Treatment technologies Develop sustainable water supply concepts. Implement, monitor and optimise new technologies. Test and further develop existing treatment methods.
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Micropollutants and microorganisms Development and improvement of determination procedures. Investigating occurrence, behaviour and fate of inorganic and organic trace substances.
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Network management and drinking water installation Advice on safeguarding the quality of drinking water in the distribution system, support in the development of specific network management strategies.
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Risk management Supporting water supply companies in risk management, based on our comprehensive expertise.
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Drinking water catchments and resources Protection of drinking water resources by assessing potential hazards in water catchment areas, catalogues of measures, monitoring concepts, databases
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Environmental biotechnology and contaminated sites Environmental biotechnology to improve water quality. Degradation processes for water purification. Concepts and studies for pollutant contamination.
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Digitalisation Solving complex questions and problems of water supply companies in digitalisation through technical support or practical research projects.
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Practical projects Research and practice, water supply, scientific and technical expertise, technology concepts, resource protection, distribution network, digitalisation
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Research
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Resource protection Sustainable resource protection as an important factor for safe drinking water supply. Management of hazards and risks in water catchment areas.
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Environmental biotechnology Technical and biological methods for the elimination of microorganisms, microbiological degradation processes, risk assessment of microbial contamination
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Microorganisms Application and development of reliable detection methods for microorganisms in drinking water, evaluation of disinfection and treatment measures.
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Micropollutants Reliable and sensitive determination of trace substances and microplastics, investigation of the behaviour in the water cycle, qualified risk assessment
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Waste water and water cycle Development of integrated water supply and waste water disposal concepts, Utilisation of biodegradation processes to eliminate persistent substances
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New technologies and products Technologies and products for the treatment, disinfection and post-treatment of drinking water, testing for performance, safety and robustness
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Asset management and infrastructure Development of asset management strategies to ensure a stable supply of high-quality drinking water, assessment of the condition of pipeline networks.
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Safety and security, digitalisation and management Digitalisation in the areas of data collection, data management, data-driven applications and IT security. Artificial intelligence and blockchain.
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- Projects
- About TZW
- Information
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New technologies and products
As a result of changed framework conditions, new regulatory requirements and social mega trends, there is a constant stream of new technologies and products on the market to treat, disinfect and post-process drinking water at the point of entry. These will be investigated as part of research work related to the efficiency, security and robustness for practical application. Technologies, products and materials already established or introduced in other industries play a major role. A high technology readiness level (TRL) is also extremely important. Past examples are membrane technology or in future, UV-LED technology and hybrid processes. Functionalised materials will also gain significance in future.
Research areas
Drinking water treatment
Future developments in drinking water treatment concern the use of energy-efficient technologies that conserve resources. Existing processes are not only optimised in terms of their performance but also with regard to their energy, material and personnel efficiency. Membrane and hybrid processes are becoming increasingly competitive compared with conventional methods. The recycling of water company residues will gain importance. Structural and supply concepts must be adjusted to changing framework conditions (climate change, demographic development, industrialisation).
New systems and materials
Entirely new products that take account of the social mega trend of individualisation are expected in drinking water post-processing. Devices and systems to safeguard drinking water in the event of contaminations such as Legionella will also become more important. Research projects also investigate materials for their long-term behaviour, functionality and suitability.
UV and UV LED technology
Rapid development can be observed in the field of UV technology. This lies in the fact that UV emitters are being continuously optimised for energy reasons, and perspectively replaced by mercury-free radiation sources. A technological change will happen with UV LEDs, which requires entirely new reactor and monitoring concepts. At TZW, we are conducting various national and international research projects on this topic.
Projects
Alternatives to flocculants and flocculation processes (LitFAlter)
As part of the literature study funded by the DVGW, information on alternatives to flocculation and flocculants was collected and a survey was carried…
Read moreApplication of hollow fiber nanofiltration for sulphate removal
Hollow fiber membranes successfully removed sulphate from a very hard groundwater during the operation of a pilot plant without the need of…
Read moreOnline technology for operational monitoring of drinking water treatment (TRINKcontrol)
Efficient online monitoring is becoming increasingly important in drinking water treatment. New applications include automatic process control and…
Read moreClimate Resilience, Sanitation and Water Safety (KreATiw)
In the KreATiw project, experiences from South Africa are used to successfully adapt existing risk management approaches for drinking water supply and…
Read moreNew water resources and innovative wastewater treatment (Newa-Lima)
The technology of managed aquifer recharge (MAR), which has been proven in Germany, will be introduced in Peru as a nature-based solution. Its…
Read moreIncreased temperatures in the drinking water distribution network (MibiTemp)
The Project aimed on a general understanding of the effects of increased water temperatures on resilience and vulnerability of microbial communities…
Read morePublications
Turkovic, R.; Feinauer, F. (2018): Standardisierung eines Testverfahrens zur bauseitigen Qualitätsbeurteilung der Beschichtungsausführung von Epoxidharz-beschichteten Trinkwasser-Stahlbehältern [Standardisation of a test method for the customer to assess the quality of the coating design of epoxy resin coated steel drinking water tanks] , ewp Jg. 69, H. 2, p. 22-29
Turkovic, R.; Koch, A.; Kalisch, A., Klinger, J. (2015): Bewertung von Kunststoffen im Kontakt mit Trinkwasser [Assessment of plastics in contact with drinking water], ewp Jg. 66, H. 11, p. 62-67
Werner, W.; Klinger, J. (2009): Untersuchungen zur Nickelabgabe von flexiblen Anschlussschläuchen mit vernickelten Verbindern für Sanitärarmaturen [Studies into the nickel release of flexible hose connectors with nickel-plated connectors for sanitary fittings], ewp Jg. 60, H. 3, p. 67-71
Contact
Drinking water treatment
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New systems and materials
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UV technology
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