Hans David Wendt (UT)
PhD project
Supervisors: Rob Lammertink (UT, promotor), Walter van der Meer (UT, promotor), Antoine Kemperman (UT)
Duration: 2020-2024
Funded by NWO-TTW Open Technologieprogramma (NWO project number 17744)
There is growing awareness and concern about the presence of so-called organic micro-pollutants (OMPs) in our surface water. OMPs are very small organic molecules (100-1000 Da), stemming from medicinal or industrial origin that have the potential to cause long-term harm to humans and the environment. Municipal wastewater treatment plants (MWTPs) are considered a hotspot for the release of OMPs into the environment as most OMPs end up in our wastewater, while our MWTPS were never designed for their removal. Techniques to remove these OMPs from the wastewater effluent are available but are too costly and energy-intensive and unsustainable. In this project, academia, knowledge institutes and industry work together to develop an affordable and sustainable technology to remove OMPs from wastewater effluents. A novel nanofiltration membrane will be developed that discharges very clean effluent, while an OMP concentrate is further degraded in a conventional bioreactor.