Chairs of Urban Water Management
Master Thesis
Possible Topics in Urban Water Management
Updated: 22.06.2016
You find the responsible contact in the contact information at the end of each
topic description. If you are looking for a topic related to a given topic, you may
as well contact the responsible person.
If none of the listed topics fits you, you are encouraged to inform yourself about
the different research fields at Eawag. If you are interested in a master thesis in
one of the groups, please contact the responsible researcher directly.
In any case, make sure that a clear formulation of your tasks is done and
arranged with the responsible professor (Prof. Maurer or Prof. Morgenroth)
before you start with your thesis!
You can find the different research groups under the following links:
http://www.eawag.ch/forschung/eng/schwerpunkte/index_EN
http://www.eawag.ch/forschung/sww/schwerpunkte/index_EN
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Chairs of Urban Water Management
Identification of geogenic and anthropogenic sources of
technology-critical trace elements in Swiss waste waters
Background
Trace elements are of increasing commercial importance for a
variety of applications in electronics, catalysts, ceramics, metallurgy
and pharmaceuticals. Particularly in high-tech applications, many
trace elements (e.g., Ga, In, Te, Nb, Ta, platinum group elements,
rare earth elements and certain heavy metals, Figure 1a) fulfil
crucial roles. The global use and environmental fluxes of these socalled ‚technology-critical trace elements’ have increased
tremendously due to economic and population growth over the last
decades. Therefore, it may be assumed that the loads of these
elements have risen correspondingly in waste waters and sewage
sludge worldwide, but this has yet to be confirmed. As part of an
ongoing effort to create a national inventory for trace element fluxes,
we are measuring the concentrations of >60 major and trace
elements in waste water treatment plants (WWTP) in Switzerland
(Figure 1b).
Figure 1. Periodic table of the elements with ‘Technology-Critical Elements’ highlighted
(A) and a map of Switzerland with the locations of over 700 WWTPs and corresponding
catchment areas (B).
Objectives of the suggested topic
The main goal of this Master thesis project is to quantitatively explain observed
geographical element distributions as a function of natural and anthropogenic
sources. The student will use a combination of state-of-the-art chemical
analytics, GIS and statistical modelling to correlate observed concentrations
with geological, lithological and mineralogical data, with population sizes or
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Chairs of Urban Water Management
presence of specific industries in the WWTP catchments or with
meteorological/climatic datasets. Knowing the sources of these trace elements
and emerging pollutants is highly relevant as it enables us to focus the attention
of monitoring programs and to suggest treatment options that could increase
the elimination or potential recovery of these valuable elements from waste
streams.
Specific tasks include:
 Participating in the sample collection campaign and with sample
preparation
 Participating in the measurement of technology critical elements in waste
water and sludge samples at the (ultra)trace level
 Identifying the relevant anthropogenic (industrial) sources and natural
sources of a selected number of Technology-Critical elements
 Collecting suitable statistics on these potential sources (e.g., from
geological maps and climatic and industrial data) and processing this
data in GIS
 Statistical modelling to evaluate the relevance of these sources to
observed elemental concentrations
Requirements
 Interest in the occurrence and fate of emerging micro-pollutants in
wastewater treatment plants and a good amount of motivation and
initiative
 Experience with script oriented programming environments (R, Matlab),
basic knowledge of statistical modelling and GIS is an asset
 Good knowledge of English
This project will be performed in the department of Water Resources and
Drinking Water at Eawag in collaboration with BAFU. Office space with
computer will be provided.
Advisors
Prof. Dr. Eberhard Morgenroth
Dr. Michael Berg (Eawag)
Dr. Bas Vriens (Eawag)
Contact information
Bas Vriens, Eawag
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +41 058 765 6795
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Chairs of Urban Water Management
Tutors (assistants) of Chairs of Urban Water Management:
Angelika Hess, Sara Engelhard, Jonas Eppler
Office: HIL G 31.2
Email: [email protected], [email protected],
[email protected],
Tel.: +41 44 633 30 73
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Chairs of Urban Water Management
The fluxes and behavior of mercury in waste water treatment
plants in Switzerland
Background
Mercury and its (organo)compounds are extremely toxic substances
to humans and other organisms. Because of its volatility, extensive
atmospheric transport, persistence in the environment,
bioaccumulation and associated negative impacts on entire
ecosystems, mercury has been known as a pollutant of global
concern for decades. In 2013, Switzerland ratified the Minamata
Convention, which prohibits a number of mercury-containing
products and their trade from the year 2020 onwards. In addition,
ratifying countries need to identify sources of mercury, reduce the
amount of mercury used and support mercury-free alternatives. In
order to comply with the agreements of the convention, the mercury
fluxes in Switzerland must be quantified, including those in waste
streams. Although WWTPs could also play an important role in the
control of mercury emissions into the environment, there is currently
little quantitative knowledge on the fluxes and fate of mercury
compounds in WWTPs in Switzerland.
Figure 1. Overview of a mass balance of mercury in a WWTP and potentially
relevant mercury compounds.
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Chairs of Urban Water Management
Objectives of the suggested topic
Depending on the start date, the student will be involved in the sampling and
analysis of total mercury concentrations and fluxes of individual mercury
species in WWTPs in Switzerland. After quantification of the relevant mercury
compounds, the student will perform mass balance calculations and budgeting
exercises (Figure 1) to characterize the elimination of mercury from the waste
water during the various treatment steps. This information will allow us to
identify the mercury transformation processes and potential sources and sinks
of mercury during the waste water treatment process.
Specific tasks include:
 Participating in sample collection and sample preparation
 Assisting in the measurement of total mercury concentrations and
individual mercury compounds in waste water and sludge samples at the
(ultra)trace level
 Performing mass balance calculations and budgeting exercises
Requirements
 Interest in the occurrence and fate of mercury in wastewater treatment
plants and a good amount of motivation and initiative
 Solid laboratory skills, experience with chemical analyses an asset
 Previous experience with sample collection in the field is beneficial
 Good knowledge of English
This project will be performed in the department of Water Resources and
Drinking Water at Eawag in collaboration with BAFU. Office space with
computer will be provided.
Advisors
Prof. Dr. Eberhard Morgenroth
Prof. Dr. Lenny Winkel
Dr. Michael Berg (Eawag)
Dr. Bas Vriens (Eawag)
Contact information
Bas Vriens, Eawag
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +41 058 765 6795
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Chairs of Urban Water Management
What is the impact of heavy rainfalls on a potential river
contamination by engineered nanomaterials?
Background
Although wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) have a very high removal
efficiency concerning engineered nanomaterials (ENMs), occasional heavy
rainfalls (storm events), during which the wastewater bypasses the WWTPs,
may compromise the operational efficiency of WWTPs in Switzerland. Thus, we
will investigate to what extent ENMs entering the surface water during storm
events contribute to the overall ENMs budget of WWTPs in Switzerland.
Objectives of the suggested topic
1. Literature study on urban sources, removal efficiency on WWTP and
selection of relevant, engineered nanomaterials.
2. Developing a stochastic model for predicting the emissions of ENMs
during storm events (geographically resolved on a river section level).
3. Collecting and analyzing data to assess the expected wastewater
treatment efficiencies as well as the annual direct discharges (bypasses)
during heavy rainfall events.
4. Performing a model sensitivity analysis to evaluate the annual
contribution of storm events to the total emission budget of ENMs.
Addressing these main objectives will lead to the development of a generalized
model to asses untreated, direct discharges of ENMs. The particular challenge
of this work will be collecting empirical information as well as unraveling the
frequency and predictability of storm event based emissions of ENMs.
Specific information
This project will be performed in the department of Urban Water Management at
Eawag in collaboration with ETSS. Office space with computer will be provided.
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Chairs of Urban Water Management
Requirements
Affinity to modeling and system analysis (programming environment R). Basic
knowledge of GIS is an asset.
Advisors
Prof. Dr. Max Maurer
Dr. Fadri Gottschalk (ETSS AG)
Dr. Christoph Ort (Eawag)
Dr. Ralf Kägi (Eawag)
Lena Mutzner (Eawag)
Contact information
Name:
Dr. Fadri Gottschalk
Email:
[email protected]
Phone:
+41 81 860 10 85
Name:
Email:
Phone:
Lena Mutzner
[email protected]
+41 58 765 59 29
Tutors (assistants) of Chairs of Urban Water Management:
Angelika Hess, Sara Engelhard, Jonas Eppler
Office: HIL G 31.2
Email: [email protected], [email protected],
[email protected],
Tel.: +41 44 633 30 73
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Chairs of Urban Water Management
Innovative Wasserkreislaufsysteme für den Wohn- und
Gewerbebau „Zollhaus“
Hintergrund
Die Genossenschaft Kalkbreite plant per 2020 eine neue Wohn- und
Gewerbesiedlung am HB Zürich. Zu den Zielsetzungen der Genossenschaft
gehören, neben dem Erstellen und Vermieten von preiswertem Wohn- und
Gewerberaum, auch die Förderung einer nachhaltigen Entwicklung gemäss den
Zielen der 2000-Watt-Gesellschaft. Während beim Bau der ersten Siedlung an
der Kalkbreite der reduzierte Raumverbrauch und der Autoverzicht mit
Mobilitätskonzept im Zentrum der Suffizienzerwägungen standen, möchte die
Genossenschaft mit dem Bau der zweiten Siedlung einen Schritt weiter gehen
und einen möglichst geschlossenen Wasserkreislauf (mit der Rückgewinnung
von Nährstoffen aus Urin und Fäkalien) prüfen, sowie dessen Wirtschaftlichkeit
und Ökobilanz. Die Erkenntnisse der vorliegenden Arbeit wird der Bau- und
Nutzungskommission vorgestellt und dient als Grundlage für die
Weiterbearbeitung und Umsetzung von einem innovativen System in die
Planung des Bauprojekt.
Inhalt der Arbeit
Anhand des Projektes „Zollhaus“ soll der Wasserverbrauch aufgezeigt werden
und unterschiedliche alternative und innovative Wasserkreislaufsysteme
erarbeitet, evaluiert und bewertet werden.
Inhalt:
 These/Fragestellung bezüglich Ressource „Wasser“ als Beitrag zur
Ökobilanz einer Liegenschaft
 Allgemein: Geschlossene Wasserkreislaufsysteme innerhalb einer
Liegenschaft im Vergleich – Referenzprojekte als Grundlage?
 „Zollhaus - IST“: Voraussichtlicher Wasserverbrauch, Anfallende
Abwassermengen
 Evtl. Vergleichsstudie:, zB. Planungsprojekt Areal Thurgauerstrasse
West, oder bereits abgeschlossenes Bauprojekt.
 Konzepte zu Wasserkreislaufsystemen für das „Zollhaus“ mit Angaben
zur Reduktion von Wasserverbrauch und Abwasser, Einspeisung von
Meteorwasser, Speicherung, Warmwassererzeugung durch Abwärme
Heizung udgl., Aufbereitung und Wiederverwendung von Abwasser
(qualitativ und quantitativ), bauliche und planerische Massnahmen,
Kostenbilanz (Investition, Ertrag, Kostenreduktion), Schnittstellen
Angabe von „must have“ and „nice to have“ , mögliche Schwierigkeiten
bei der Umsetzung.
 Beurteilung der Konzepte nach folgenden Kriterien: Ökobilanz,
Wirtschaftlichkeit (Grösse der Liegenschaft, Grenzwerte, Minimale
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Chairs of Urban Water Management
Grösse der Anlage und Rentabilität in Bezug zur Hauptnutzfläche,
Umsetzbarkeit), Finanzierbarkeit, Baurechtliche Rahmenbedingungen.
Fragestellungen:
- Relevanz im nationalen und urbanen Kontext?
- Welche Ansätze gibt es um den Wasserverbrauch zu minimieren?
- Welche Abwasser können wie wieder zu Brauchwasser werden?
- Wie viele getrennte „Wasserkreise“ müssen geführt werden? Welche?
Ziel:
- Erarbeitung 2-3 unterschiedliche Konzepte und deren Beurteilung
Voraussetzungen
Die Studie basiert auf dem Vorprojekt »Zollhaus« von Enzmann Fischer Partner
AG und zeigt Systeme, resp. Konzepte für die autarke Aufbereitung von Grau-,
Gelb- und Schwarzwasser und einen Kanalisations-unabhängigen Betrieb der
Siedlung auf. Die nötigen Pläne, Anzahl an Anschlüsse, Wasserwerte und
Berechnungen zum Verbrauch werden seitens der Bauherrschaft, resp.
Sanitärplaner zur Verfügung gestellt.
Leitung / Betreuung
Leitung: Prof. Dr. Max Maurer
Betreuer: Bastian Etter, Eawag
Externe Ansprechperson bei der Genossenschaft Kalkbreite: Nina Schneider
078 871 75 79
Kontakt
Bastian Etter, Eawag
Email: [email protected]
Tel.: +41 58 765 50 48
Assistenz für Siedlungswasserwirtschaft
Angelika Hess, Sara Engelhard, Jonas Eppler
Büro: HIL G 31.2
Email: [email protected], [email protected]
[email protected]
Tel.: +41 44 633 30 73
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Chairs of Urban Water Management
Methoden der Nährstoffrückgewinnung aus Urin, Wohn- und
Gewerbebau Zollhaus
Hintergrund
Die Genossenschaft Kalkbreite plant per 2020 eine neue Wohn- und
Gewerbesiedlung am HB Zürich. Zu den Zielsetzungen der Genossenschaft
gehören, neben dem Erstellen und Vermieten von preiswertem Wohn- und
Gewerberaum, auch die Förderung einer nachhaltigen Entwicklung gemäss den
Zielen der 2000-Watt-Gesellschaft. Während beim Bau der ersten Siedlung an
der Kalkbreite der reduzierte Raumverbrauch und der Autoverzicht mit
Mobilitätskonzept im Zentrum der Suffizienzerwägungen standen, möchte die
Genossenschaft mit dem Bau der zweiten Siedlung einen Schritt weiter gehen
und einen möglichst geschlossenen Wasserkreislauf mit der Rückgewinnung
von Nährstoffen aus Urin und Fäkalien prüfen, sowie dessen Wirtschaftlichkeit
und Ökobilanz. Die Erkenntnisse der vorliegenden Arbeit wird der Bau- und
Nutzungskommission vorgestellt und dient als Grundlage für die
Weiterbearbeitung und Umsetzung von einem innovativen System in die
Planung des Bauprojekt.
Inhalt der Arbeit
Die Evaluation wird in drei thematische Bereiche und Vertiefungen aufgeteilt:
a) Auslegeordnung und Wirtschaftlichkeitsbewertung der Möglichkeiten zur
nachhaltigen Wasserwirtschaft im städtischen Siedlungsneubau.
b) Methoden zur Nährstoffrückgewinnung, Aufbereitung und Verwertung
von Urin im städtischen Siedlungsneubau
c) Methoden zur Nährstoffrückgewinnung, Aufbereitung und Verwertung
von Fäkalien im städtischen Siedlungsneubau
Nach Wunsch können die Bereiche b) und c) zusammengefasst werden. Wobei
die Aufgabenstellung b) eine vertiefte Auseinandersetzung mit der
Rückgewinnung und Verwendung von Nitraten in Zusammenarbeit mit
ExpertInnen des Gewürz-, Gemüse-, und Obstanbaus erfordert.
Ziel ist es Methoden für die Sammlung und Rückgewinnung von Nährstoffen
aus Urin aufzuzeigen. Erwartet werden eine Studie zu Sanitärgeräten mit
optimaler Urin-Rückgewinnung, Hochrechnungen zur anfallenden Menge,
Erwägungen zur technischen/chemischen Umwandlung in Dünger, resp. eine
allfällige direkten Verwendung zum Anbau von Zier- und Nutzpflanzen im
Siedlungsaussenraum (oder einer Pflanzenkläranlage). Ausserdem wird eine
Literaturstudie zu verschiedenen Verfahren zur Urinbehandlung
(Vakuumverdampfung, Ozonisierung, UV-bestrahlung etc.) erwartet. Ein
grosses Augenmerk ist auf die Kosten, den Energiebedarf und den Platzbedarf
der Anlage zu legen. Ausgehend von der Studie sind Empfehlungen zur
Ökobilanz, Finanzierbarkeit und Relevanz einer solchen Anlage abzugeben.
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Chairs of Urban Water Management
Voraussetzungen
Die Studie basiert auf dem Vorprojekt »Zollhaus« von Enzmann Fischer Partner
AG und zeigt angewandt Lösungen für die autarke Aufbereitung von Grau-,
Gelb- und Schwarzwasser und einen Kanalisations-unabhängigen Betrieb der
Siedlung auf. Für eine möglichst direkte Verwendung der aus Urin
rückgewonnenen Nährstoffe ist die Zusammenarbeit im der ZHAW und/ oder
PraktikerInnen aus dem Gemüsebau erforderlich. Die nötigen Pläne, Anzahl an
Anschlüsse, Wasserwerte und Berechnungen zum Verbrauch werden seitens
der Bauherrschaft, resp. Sanitärplaner zur Verfügung gestellt.
Leitung / Betreuung
Leitung: Prof. Dr. Eberhard Morgenroth
Betreuer: Bastian Etter, Eawag
Externe Ansprechperson bei der Genossenschaft Kalkbreite: Nina Schneider
078 871 75 79; [email protected]
Kontakt
Bastian Etter, Eawag
Email: [email protected]
Tel.: +41 58 765 50 48
Assistenz für Siedlungswasserwirtschaft
Angelika Hess, Sara Engelhard, Jonas Eppler
Büro: HIL G 31.2
Email: [email protected], [email protected]
[email protected]
Tel.: +41 44 633 30 73
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Chairs of Urban Water Management
Methoden der Nährstoffrückgewinnung aus Fäkalien, Wohnund Gewerbebau Zollhaus
Hintergrund
Die Genossenschaft Kalkbreite plant per 2020 eine neue Wohn- und
Gewerbesiedlung am HB Zürich. Zu den Zielsetzungen der Genossenschaft
gehören, neben dem Erstellen und Vermieten von preiswertem Wohn- und
Gewerberaum, auch die Förderung einer nachhaltigen Entwicklung gemäss den
Zielen der 2000-Watt-Gesellschaft. Während beim Bau der ersten Siedlung an
der Kalkbreite der reduzierte Raumverbrauch und der Autoverzicht mit
Mobilitätskonzept im Zentrum der Suffizienzerwägungen standen, möchte die
Genossenschaft mit dem Bau der zweiten Siedlung einen Schritt weiter gehen
und einen möglichst geschlossenen Wasserkreislauf mit der Rückgewinnung
von Nährstoffen aus Urin und Fäkalien prüfen, sowie dessen Wirtschaftlichkeit
und Ökobilanz. Die Erkenntnisse der vorliegenden Arbeit wird der Bau- und
Nutzungskommission vorgestellt und dient als Grundlage für die
Weiterbearbeitung und Umsetzung von einem innovativen System in die
Planung des Bauprojekt.
Inhalt der Arbeit
Die Evaluation wird in drei thematische Bereiche und Vertiefungen aufgeteilt:
d) Auslegeordnung und Wirtschaftlichkeitsbewertung der Möglichkeiten zur
nachhaltigen Wasserwirtschaft im städtischen Siedlungsneubau.
e) Methoden zur Nährstoffrückgewinnung, Aufbereitung und Verwertung
von Urin im städtischen Siedlungsneubau
f) Methoden zur Nährstoffrückgewinnung, Aufbereitung und Verwertung
von Fäkalien, resp. deren Nutzung als Biogas und Wärme-/Energiequelle
im städtischen Siedlungsneubau
Nach Wunsch können die Bereiche b) und c) zusammengefasst werden. Wobei
die Aufgabenstellung c) eine vertiefte Auseinandersetzung mit Sanitärlösungen
zur Sammlung und Aufbewahrung von Fäkalien und ev. deren Mischung mit
Küchenabfällen, sowie den erforderlichen Bewilligungen seitens des AWEL
erfordert. Zu prüfen ist auch die Vergasung als Wärme- und Heizenergie.
Ziel ist es Methoden für die Sammlung und Kompostierung von Fäkalien
aufzuzeigen. Hochrechnungen zur anfallenden Menge und zur Dauer der
Kompostierung anzustellen, wie auch die Verwertbarkeit für den eigenen Anbau
von Zier- und Nutzpflanzen im Siedlungsaussenraum aufzuzeigen, resp. die
Verwendung als Biogas zu prüfen. Ein grosses Augenmerk ist auf die Kosten,
den Energiebedarf und den Platzbedarf der Anlage zu legen. Ausgehend von
der Studie sind Empfehlungen zur Ökobilanz, Finanzier- und Wünschbarkeit
einer solchen Anlage abzugeben.
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Chairs of Urban Water Management
Voraussetzungen
Die Studie basiert auf dem Vorprojekt »Zollhaus« von Enzmann Fischer Partner
AG und zeigt angewandt Lösungen für die autarke Aufbereitung von Grau-,
Gelb- und Schwarzwasser und einen Kanalisations-unabhängigen Betrieb der
Siedlung auf. Die nötigen Pläne, Anzahl an Anschlüsse, Wasserwerte und
Berechnungen zum Verbrauch werden seitens der Bauherrschaft, resp.
Sanitärplaner zur Verfügung gestellt.
Leitung / Betreuung
Leitung: Prof. Dr. Eberhard Morgenroth
Betreuer: Bastian Etter, Eawag
Externe Ansprechperson bei der Genossenschaft Kalkbreite: Nina Schneider
078 871 75 79; [email protected]
Kontakt
Bastian Etter, Eawag
Email: [email protected]
Tel.: +41 58 765 50 48
Assistenz für Siedlungswasserwirtschaft
Angelika Hess, Sara Engelhard, Jonas Eppler
Büro: HIL G 31.2
Email: [email protected], [email protected]
[email protected]
Tel.: +41 44 633 30 73
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Chairs of Urban Water Management
Modelling in-sewer transformation of illicit drugs
FIG 1. What happens to excreted drug residues during transport in gravity sewers?
Background
After consumption, drugs such as cocaine, amphetamine and heroin are
metabolized in the human body, excreted as parent compound or metabolites
(biomarkers) and flushed through toilets into sewers. During the transport in
sewer pipes, many of the targeted biomarkers undergo chemical and biological
transformations.
FIG 2. Transformation of amphetamine (left) and ketamine (right) in four different sewers over
24h under aerobic conditions at 22°C.
If we back-calculate illicit drug consumption based on biomarker concentrations
measured in a 24h composite sample from the influent to a sewage treatment
plant, we have to account for the loss of biomarkers during transport in sewers.
Different drugs are being transformed to varying degrees in sewer (FIG 2).
Further, catchments around the world differ in size, design, operation mode and
are operated under different environmental conditions.
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Chairs of Urban Water Management
Objectives of the suggested topic
Based on an extensive laboratory dataset, we estimated in-sewer
transformation rates for a set of different illicit drugs. Using these rates, you will
develop a stochastic model to assess the effect of in-sewer transformation on
the illicit drug concentration measured at the treatment plant. This involves the
following tasks:
1. Understand existing sewer models for two catchments of different sizes
(available software, e.g. Mike Urban, WEST, SWIM, City Drain) and
derive necessary catchment characteristic (e.g. residence time
distribution, water levels, biofilm areas).
2. Develop a simplified, stochastic reactor model reflecting the real
catchments to calculate effect of transformations.
3. For the two different catchments, you apply stochastic model and
calculate 24h composite sample concentrations for different scenarios.
4. Asses the effect of transformations under varying environmental
conditions (e.g. oxygen concentrations).
Specific information
You will have a workspace at Eawag and as part of the research team you can
attend relevant group meetings.
Contributing to research at the intersection of urban water management and
process engineering, the results of this master thesis will advance the field of
wastewater-based epidemiology.
You can start the project the earliest in January 2016 and the latest by May
2016. Feel free to contact us to ask further questions.
Requirements
 High motivation to model
 Good knowledge of software such as R and e.g. WEST, SWIM, Mike
Urban
 Good knowledge of English
Advisors
Prof. Dr. Eberhard Morgenroth
Dr. Christoph Ort (Eawag)
MS Ann-Kathrin McCall (Eawag)
Contact information
Ann-Kathrin McCall
Email:
[email protected]
Phone:
+41 (0)58 765 5041
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Chairs of Urban Water Management
Tutors (assistants) of Chairs of Urban Water Management:
Jonas Eppler, Angelika Hess, Sara Engelhard
Office: HIL G 31.2
Email: [email protected], [email protected],
[email protected]
Tel.: +41 44 633 30 73
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Chairs of Urban Water Management
Measure nitrite with UV-Vis spectrometry in a urine nitrification
system.
Background
Nutrient recovery from source separated urine is a promising technology to
move wastewater collection and treatment into a more sustainable future. One
process chain to recover nutrient includes the biological nitrification of urine in
order to stabilise the nitrogen content (Udert & Wächter, 2012). Under varying
urine loads, the nitrification process accumulates
nitrite on a regular basis. Without fast
remediation, this accumulations leads to
irreversible inhibition of the nitrite oxidizing
bacteria within days which usually requires a
complete new start-up of the reactor. Within the
SoDAN (Soft-Sensing, Diagnosis and Automation
for Nutrient Recovery)
project, we aim to
implement a control strategy to prevent these
accumulations automatically under fluctuating
inflow schemes.
To enable a controller to stabilise this process it is
essential that all required information for the
control decision is available with a high enough
accuracy and frequency. In the case of urine
nitrification nitrite is this key compound. One
promising sensing technique is the in-situ
Figure 1
ultraviolet and visible light (UV-Vis) spectrometry.
Urine nitrification reactor.
This technique is already in use to monitor
conventional (waste) water systems. However, the use of such a spectral probe
as a sensor for process control is more demanding in terms of reliability and
accuracy of the extracted information. Previous work at Eawag shows that
information about nitrite concentration in urine can be extracted from the
recorded absorbance spectra in
batch tests despite the high
nitrate concentrations which
prevent the analysis of the
normally
used
wavelength
range (Masic et al., 2015).
Figure 2 UV-Vis spectrolyser in a flow cell.
Other
studies
at
Eawag
investigated the influence of particles and sensor fouling on the nitrite prediction
performance. Since we know that also organics and particles will absorb light in
the UV-Vis range we are currently working on a long-term validation experiment
in a continuously operated urine nitrification system. This will expose the sensor
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Chairs of Urban Water Management
to the background dynamics the sensor also would experience in a real world
application.
Objectives of the suggested topic
The goal of this master thesis is to better understand the stability of the
underlying model we use to predict nitrite with the spectral data in a
continuously operated reactor with artificially induced background dynamics.
a. Validate the model prediction with regular sampling in a fed- batch
wise operated urine nitrification reactor.
b. Add artificial dynamics to the background spectra and evaluate
model prediction performance.
c. Add continuous operation phases into the current batch mode
and study the effect on the model prediction performance
Specific information
Office space with computer and an existing urine nitrification reactor will be
provided at Eawag in Dübendorf. For the data processing Matlab will be used.
Literature
Udert, K.M., Wächter, M. Complete nutrient recovery from source-separated urine by nitrification and
distillation (2012) Water Research, 46, pp. 453-464.
Mašić, A., Santos, A.T.L., Etter, B., Udert, K.M., Villez, K. Estimation of nitrite in source-separated nitrified
urine with UV spectrophotometry (2015) Water Research, 85, pp. 244-254.
Advisors
Prof. Dr. Eberhard Morgenroth
Dr. Kris Villez (Eawag)
Christian Thürlimann (Eawag)
Contact information
Dr. Kris Villez
Email:
[email protected]
Phone:
+41 765 52 80
http://www.eawag.ch/de/abteilung/eng/schwerpunkte/sensorenautomatisierung/
Tutors (assistants) of Chairs of Urban Water Management:
Angelika Hess, Sara Engelhard, Jonas Eppler
Office: HIL G 31.2
Email: [email protected], [email protected],
[email protected],
Tel.: +41 44 633 30 73
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Modelling Electrochemical Nitrite Removal
Concentration [mg N∙L-1]
Background
Nitrite is a harmful compound and has to be removed from wastewaters to
protect aquatic environments. It has been shown in our laboratory that nitrite
can be removed from wastewater by electrochemical oxidation on simple
graphite anodes (Figure 1). The electrochemical nitrite oxidation may be
especially useful for on-site wastewater treatment since electricity is the only
input that is required for this process.
A recent feasibility study showed that electrochemical nitrite oxidation could be
useful for on-site urine treatment (Sutter, 2014). However, the results of that
study also suggested that a mathematical model of the electrochemical process
would be beneficial for upscaling of this application.
1600
1400
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0
NH4+
NO3NO2-
0
2
4
6
8
Time [h]
10
12
Figure 1: Electrochemical nitrite removal in a batch electrolysis cell.
Objectives and Project Description
In this master thesis it will be your goal to develop a mathematical model of the
electrochemical nitrite oxidation process in synthetic urine. The development
will include the following steps:
1. Develop an electrochemical reaction model (Goodridge and Scott, 1995)
2. Perform experiments to estimate model parameters (calibration)
3. Validate the model with existing data from nitrite electrolysis in real urine
(validation)
Specific Information
Office space and laboratory space will be available at Eawag. You will develop
the mathematical model, presumably in MATLAB, such that it is compatible with
other models that have been developed in our department.
In the beginning of the work, you will have to get familiar with some basic
concepts of electrochemistry and electrochemical engineering. You will be
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guided through this learning step with appropriate literature and regular
meetings.
You may start earliest in January 2016 and latest on 1st of March 2016. We
expect a motivated student with some modelling experience. In the laboratory,
we expect safe and precise work. Do not hesitate to contact us via the contact
information if you have further questions.
Advisors
Prof. Dr. Eberhard Morgenroth
Dr. Kai M. Udert (Eawag)
Hanspeter Zöllig (Eawag)
Contact Information
Hanspeter Zöllig
Email:
[email protected]
Phone:
+41 58 765 54 34
Tutors (assistants) of Chairs of Urban Water Management:
Jonas Eppler, Angelika Hess, Sara Engelhard
Office: HIL G 31.2
Email: [email protected], [email protected],
[email protected]
Tel.: +41 44 633 30 73
References
Goodridge, F., Scott, K., 1995. Electrochemical process engineering : a guide to
the design of electrolytic plant. New York [etc.] : Plenum Press.
Sutter, A., 2014. A hybrid MBBR-electrolysis urine nitrification system: the
interplay of electrolysis and bacteria. Master's thesis. ETH Zürich
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Obtaining Sludge Settling Properties via Image Analysis
Background
Secondary clarifiers are a key element of the activated sludge process for
biological wastewater treatment. By providing both clarifying and thickening
functions, a secondary clarifier ensure adequate effluent quality while ensuring
efficient and stable operation in the long term [1]. Unfortunately, the
performance of secondary settling tanks in conventional biological wastewater
treatment systems is difficult to predict under realistic conditions. As a result,
monitoring and optimal operation of settlers is challenging in practice. This
leads to losses in efficiency which could be prevented by applying novel
monitoring and modelling concepts.
Most commonly, sludge settler operation is based on modelling of the sludge
settling flux curve by means of correlation with measurement of the sludge
volume index (SVI) [2]. More advanced and presumably accurate methods are
based on empirical modelling of the sludge settling velocity as a function of the
sludge concentration [3]. It remains a challenge however to collect empirical
data to the point that online updating of the settling velocity function is possible
and settler performance monitoring becomes practical [4]. At Eawag, a novel
method to register the sludge blanket during batch settling experiments has
been developed. Each of such batch settling experiments leads to an estimate
for the sludge settling velocity at a single sludge concentration. By means of
repeated batch experiments following sample concentration and dilution the
sludge settling velocity curve can be obtained and modelled. Currently available
results have been obtained for a granular sludge reactor at Eawag. In this
project, the effects of variations of the batch settling experiments will be
investigated. Such variations relate to the mixing conditions (e.g., with or
without mixing) and the sampling method (e.g., bucket, gravity, or pumping).
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Objectives of the suggested topic
1. Experimental evaluation of the effect of mixing conditions and sampling
methods on the obtained sludge blanket measurements, sludge settling
velocity, and sludge settling flux curves.
2. Test the robustness of the available image analysis software (Matlab)
against visual reference readings of the sludge blanket height.
3. Evaluate the experimental and image analysis methods with different
wastewaters, sampled at different wastewater treatment plants and at
different times.
Specific information
Experiments and modelling tasks are executed at Eawag and at different
WWTPs in the Zürich area. For experimentation, all hardware will be provided.
For data analysis and modelling, the Matlab environment will be used.
References
[1] Henze, M.; van Loosdrecht, M. C. M. ; Ekama, G. A. ; Brdjanovic, D. (2008).
Biological wastewater treatment: Principles, modelling and design. IWA
Publishing.
[2] Daigger, G. T. ; Roper Jr, R. E. (1985). The relationship between SVI and
activated sludge settling characteristics. Journal (Water Pollution Control
Federation), 57(8), 859-866.
[3] Ramin, E. ; Wágner, D. S. ; Yde, L. ; Binning, P. J. ; Rasmussen, M. R. ;
Mikkelsen, P. S. ; Plósz, B. G. (2014). A new settling velocity model to
describe secondary sedimentation. Water Research, 66, 447-458.
[4] Plosz, B.G.; Nopens, I., Rieger, L. ; Griborio, A. ; De Clercq, J. ;
Vanrolleghem, P.A. ; Daigger, G.T., Takacs, I. ; Wicks, J. ; Ekama, G.A.,
2012. A critical review of clarifier modelling: State-of-the-art and engineering
practices. Proceedings of the 3rd IWA/WEF Wastewater Treatment
Modelling Seminar (WWTmod2012), Mont-Sainte-Anne, Quebec, Canada.
Advisors
Professor Dr. Eberhard Morgenroth
Kris Villez (Eawag)
Contact information
Kris Villez
Email:
[email protected]
Phone:
+41 58 765 55 11
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Tutors (assistants) of Chairs of Urban Water Management:
Angelika Hess, Sara Engelhard, Jonas Eppler
Office: HIL G 31.2
Email: [email protected], [email protected],
[email protected],
Tel.: +41 44 633 30 73
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Growth of microorganisms in treated grey water as part of Blue
Diversion AUTARKY project
Background and Objectives
Blue Diversion AUTARKY toilet (BDT, http://www.bluediversiontoilet.com/,
Figure 1) developed at EAWAG is a source separating toilet developed as part
of the Reinvent the Toilet challenge from the Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation. The BDT has urine and feces separately collected and treated for
resource recovery. The goal of the toilet is to provide a safe and affordable
sanitation technology for the billions of people who lack of access. Toilet
flushing, hand washing and personal hygiene water are treated and recycled
within the system. A biologically activated membrane bioreactor (BAMBi) has
been employed as primary treatment to efficiently remove organic materials and
nitrogen from toilet wastewater. We are currently evaluating state-of-art post
treatment technologies, including ozone, electrolysis, UV, and granular
activated carbon (GAC) for polishing primary treated wastewater to reach safe
level for hand washing and personal cleansing. The choice of post treatment
technologies is based on their performance in treating the remaining organic
materials and inactivating (and/or removing) pathogens with consideration of
energy and cost efficiency. Additionally, regrowth of pathogens is considered as
one of the criteria for the best post treatment technology due to the possibility of
pathogen regrowth within the storage tank of post-treated water.
The goal of this project is to ensure the safety of grey water use for hand
hygiene. The student will specifically evaluate the growth potential of fecal
bacteria (used as indicators for bacterial pathogens) in water within the toilet
after each post treatment technology listed above. Results of this project will be
used to choose the final post treatment technology for the BDT.
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Figure 2 Picture of Blue Diversion prototype toilets installed in an existing structure.
Project description
We are looking for a highly motivated Master’s student to study the growth
potential of two fecal indicator bacteria Escherichia coli and Enterococcus
faecalis in water from the BDT. The Master thesis will provide answers for three
main research questions:
1.
2.
3.
Can the bacteria grow in water within the BDT?
Does the bacterial growth depend on water characteristics?
Can the bacterial growth be inhibited by adjusting water characteristics?
The Master’s student will use culture and molecular based methods to quantify
the growth potential of the bacteria. (More information of growth potential
bioassay can be found in Vital et al. (2010).) The thesis will include discussion
on how different post treatment technologies influence the growth potential of
the bacteria. Results will be integrated into the ongoing developments of the
BDT.
Reference
Vital, M., Stucki, D., Egli, T. & Hammes, F. Evaluating the growth potential of
pathogenic bacteria in water. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 76, 6477–6484 (2010).
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Additional information
Work will be performed in collaboration with the Pathogens and Human Health
research group at Eawag (Dübendorf). Further information about our facilities
and approaches are provided at http://www.eawag.ch/forschung/eng/index_EN
Further information about the Blue Diversion AUTARKY Project is available at
http://forum.susana.org/forum/categories/106-user-interface-technologyinnovations/13529-blue-diversion-autarky-a-self-sustaining-toilet-off-the-grideawag-switzerland
http://www.bluediversiontoilet.com/
Advisors
Prof. Dr. Eberhard Morgenroth
Dr. Mi Nguyen
Dr. Tim Julian
Contact information
Mi Nguyen
Email: [email protected]
Tutors (Assistants) of Chairs of Urban Water Management:
Angelika Hess, Sara Engelhard, Jonas Eppler
Office: HIL G 31.2
Email: [email protected], [email protected],
[email protected],
Tel.: +41 44 633 30 73
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Mechanisms of retention of particulate organic substrates (XS)
during feeding of aerobic granular sludge systems
Background
Aerobic granular sludge (AGS) represents a relevant technology for the
treatment of municipal wastewaters (WW) (van Loosdrecht and Brdjanovic,
2014.
AGS allows for simultaneous removal reduced reactor volume and energy
of organic matter, nitrogen and
consumption (Giesen et al., 2013).
phosphorus in a single sequencing
batch reactor, whereas with
conventional activated sludge systems
three reactors would be required.
Compared to conventional activated
sludge, the advantages of AGS also
include: (i) fast settling velocity (i.e.
easier separation between the treated
water and the biomass), (ii) higher
Solid Retention Time (allowing for the
growth of slow growing bacteria), (iii)
Figure 3: picture of aerobic granules
fed with acetate
higher biomass concentration and
thus (iv)
Many studies that aimed at identifying the mechanisms of granulation were
performed at the laboratory-scale and using synthetic wastewater (Figure 1).
Lab-scale studies helped to identify several mechanisms that influence the
granulation process: the nature of the carbon source, the hydrodynamic shear
force, the feast–famine regime, the feeding strategy, etc. However, only little
information is available with regard of the formation and performances of AGS
during treatment of complex influents such as municipal wastewater. Municipal
wastewater contains a significant fraction of particulate organic substrate (XS)
that influences the properties of the AGS (e.g. fraction of granules, morphology)
and ultimately the system performances. Especially, AGS fed with real
municipal WW always contains a significant fraction of flocs (20%) whereas full
granulation is achieved with synthetic WW. It is unclear if this fraction of flocs is
beneficial or not to the system operation e.g. for the retention of XS
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Objectives of the suggested topic
The main goal of this master thesis will be to understand to what extent this
fraction of flocs is important or not for the system performances (e.g. retention
of Xs).The specific objectives of this project will be:
 To better understand how the composition (fraction of granules) influence
the retention of XS during the anaerobic feeding.
 To evaluate how the nature and physical properties (e.g. size) of XS
influence its retention during the anaerobic feeding
 To identify how the feeding rate influence the retention of XS
 To ultimately better define the operation of sequencing batch reactors
used for the treatment of municipal WW with AGS.
Since few years, Eawag researchers are successfully operating a 200 L SBR
column for the cultivation of AGS on real municipal WW (currently 80%
granulation). Several 10 L SBR reactors are also in operation for the cultivation
of AGS on synthetic WW (full granulation). Retention experiments using these
different types of AGS will conducted in 5 L column reactors. Different AGS
composition (ratio of granules vs. flocs) and different types of particulate organic
substrate (e.g. fluorescent model substrates, real particulate substrate isolated
from WW, etc.) will be tested. The retention efficiency will be quantified using
Flow Cytometry (for fluorescent compounds) or chemical analysis (for real XS).
Specific information
This project will be performed in the department of Process Engineering at
Eawag. Office space with computer and an existing experimental facility will be
provided.
Advisors
Prof. Dr. Eberhard Morgenroth
Nicolas Derlon (Eawag/External advisor)
Contact information
Nicolas Derlon
Email:
[email protected]
Phone:
+41 44 823 5378
Tutors (assistants) of Chairs of Urban Water Management:
Angelika Hess, Sara Engelhard, Jonas Eppler
Office: HIL G 31.2
Email: [email protected], [email protected],
[email protected],
Tel.: +41 44 633 30 73
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References
Giesen, A., L. M. M. de Bruin, R. P. Niermans and H. F. van der Roest (2013). Advancements in the
application of aerobic granular biomass technology for sustainable treatment of wastewater. Water
Practice & Technology. 8(1): 47-54.
van Loosdrecht, M. C. M. and D. Brdjanovic (2014). Anticipating the next century of wastewater treatment.
Science. 344(6191): 1452-1453.
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Determinants for faecal sludge dewaterability
Worldwide, the sanitation needs of 2.7 billion people are met by onsite sanitation
technologies, such as septic tanks and pit latrines. These technologies can provide
appropriate sanitation if the transport, treatment and enduse or disposal of the faecal
sludge collected is in place. In urban areas of low-income countries, informal faecal
sludge collection and transport services frequently exist, but adequate faecal sludge
treatment and safe enduse or disposal is mostly absent. This results in large amounts
of untreated faecal sludge being discharged in urban environments, jeopardizing public
and environmental health.
Faecal sludge is typically >90% water,
which makes dewatering an important
treatment goal as this reduces transport
costs and increases the resource potential
of treatment endproducts (e.g., soil
conditioner, biochar or solid fuel). Settlingthickening tanks and drying beds are the
most commonly employed large-scale
faecal sludge dewatering technologies in
low-income countries (see Photo 1).
Although they require low capital and
operational resources, they are very land Photo 1: Faecal sludge dewatering in
Kampala.
intensive and locating space in urban areas for faecal sludge treatment is a challenge.
Hence, faecal sludge dewatering needs to be optimized to reduce transport costs and
to make treatment and resource recovery feasible within urban areas.
The use of mechanical dewatering devices, such as filter presses or centrifuges and
conditioners, is commonplace in wastewater treatment. And it is well known that
different wastewater sludge types (e.g., primary, secondary, digested sludge, and
anaerobic vs. aerobic) require differing dewatering technologies and conditioners. In
contrast to wastewater sludge, faecal sludge characteristics are very different. They
typically have one or two orders of magnitude higher solid, organic and nutrient
concentrations, and are also highly variable, which influences dewaterability. For
example, faecal sludge can be unstabilized when collected from public toilets or
partially stabilized when collected from septic tanks. Because of these reasons, it
cannot be assumed that the dewatering technologies and conditioners used with
wastewater sludge can be transferred to faecal sludge.
For wastewater sludge, total volatile solids, sand content, surface charge, particle size
distribution, protein content and viscosity have been identified as the major parameters
influencing dewaterability. And capillary suction time and sludge moisture content after
laboratory centrifugation can be used to evaluate sludge dewaterability. The influence
of these parameters on faecal sludge dewaterability, however, has not yet been
investigated, and further research is necessary to optimize faecal sludge dewatering.
The results from this study are expected to contribute to the design of appropriate
faecal sludge dewatering technologies and conditioners for dense urban areas and to
the decrease in the indiscriminate discharge of faecal sludge into urban environments.
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Objectives of the suggested topic
The objective of this Master’s thesis is to investigate the influence of physical and
bio-chemical parameters on faecal sludge dewaterability in order to understand and
optimize faecal sludge dewaterability. The tasks of this Master’s thesis will be:
 To characterize faecal sludge from onsite sanitation technologies in Switzerland
and quantify its dewaterability (total solids, chemical oxygen demand, pH,
temperature, total volatile solids, sand content, surface charge, particle size
distribution, protein content, viscosity, capillary suction time, and sludge
moisture content after centrifugation).
 To identify the influence of faecal sludge characteristics on dewaterability in
Switzerland and to compare the results with research being done in Japan,
Uganda and Vietnam (see below) and from doing a literature review.
 To evaluate the accuracy of particle size distribution and surface charge
analysis methods used in low-income countries (Uganda, Vietnam).
 To critically discuss how to best optimize, transfer and design appropriate faecal
sludge dewatering technologies for low-income countries.
Specific information
Faecal sludge will be collected from vacuum trucks at wastewater treatment plants in
Switzerland. This will be coordinated by the Master’s thesis supervisor. The laboratory
research will be conducted at the Department of Process Engineering at Eawag. Office
space will be provided at the Department of Water and Sanitation in Developing
Countries (Sandec). Parallel research is being conducted in Japan, Uganda and
Vietnam for cross-comparison.
Requirements
 Experience and interest in laboratory analysis.
 Interest in understanding fundamental engineering processes.
Duration
September to December 2015
Advisors
Professor Dr. Eberhard Morgenroth (ETHZ/Eawag); Dr. Linda Strande (Eawag/Sandec)
Co-advisors
Mr. Moritz Gold (Eawag/Sandec); Dr. Hidenori Harada (Kyoto University)
Contact Information
Mr. Moritz Gold, [email protected], +41 58 765 5015
Tutors (assistants) of Chairs of Urban Water Management:
Angelika Hess, Sara Engelhard, Jonas Eppler
Office: HIL G 31.2
Email: [email protected], [email protected],
[email protected],
Tel.: +41 44 633 30 73
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How does urbanization influence groundwater recharge of
alluvial aquifers?
Background and Objectives
Alluvial aquifers are a main source of drinking water in Switzerland but under
pressure by increasing urbanization and intense agriculture. It is often assumed
that urbanization leads to a decrease in groundwater recharge due to sealing of
surfaces and as a consequence to a lower groundwater availability. In
comparison, recharge rates are expected to be higher in agricultural areas.
These assumptions are however rarely challenged and verified, and the
opposite might actually be true. Current urban drainage rules require infiltration
of clean meteoric water into the subsurface wherever possible, which might lead
to an increase rather than a decrease in recharge. In reverse, intense
agriculture could reduce recharge due to tile drainage, soil compaction, and
stronger evapotranspiration associated with crops. The cultivation of
intermediate crops to reduce nitrate loss to groundwater can further decrease
recharge due to higher evapotranspiration as indicated by lysimeter studies.
The objective of the Master thesis is to contribute “facts” to this groundwater
recharge debate and to challenge common views on how recharge is related to
land use based on a case study.
Possible research approach and methods
The study will focus on a well-characterized alluvial aquifer that has seen rapid
urbanization but still contains large zones with intense agriculture, the Gäu
aquifer between Oensingen and Olten. The following research approach could
be used:
-
Development of conceptual models/schemes of how urban areas
influence groundwater recharge
-
Establishment of water balances for agricultural and urbanized zones
using existing data and complementary field measurements
-
Comparison of older and more recently urbanized areas to evaluate how
different urban drainage approaches influence the water balance and
groundwater recharge
-
Integration of study results into existing water balances of the entire
aquifer to evaluate how strongly urbanization influences the overall
groundwater dynamics
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Research partners
As the study relies on knowledge from urban water systems as well as
hydrogeology, it will be carried out in close collaboration between the Urban
Water Management Laboratory of the ETHZ (Prof. M. Maurer) and the CHYN
(Prof. D.Hunkeler).
Advisors
Prof. Dr. Max Maurer (ETH Zürich, UWM)
Prof. Dr. Daniel Hunkeler (Université de Neuchâtel, Centre d’hydrogéologie)
Contact information
Prof. Dr. Daniel Hunkeler
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +41 32 718 25 60
Tutors (assistants) of Chairs of Urban Water Management:
Angelika Hess, Sara Engelhard, Jonas Eppler
Office: HIL G 31.2
Email: [email protected], [email protected],
[email protected],
Tel.: +41 44 633 30 73
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Moderner Gewässerschutz bei Regenwetter durch eine
intelligente Bewirtschaftung von Mischwasserbehandlungsanlagen
Schlüsselworte
Gewässerschutz bei Regenwetter, Mischwasserbehandlung, Regenbecken,
Datenanalyse, Abflussregelung
Ausgangslage
Bei Regenwetter wird häufig unbehandeltes Abwasser unsere Gewässer
eingeleitet, was diese zum Teil stark belastet. Um solche Mischwasserentlastungen quantitativ reduzieren zu können, werden oft bauliche
Massnahmen in Form von neuen Regenbecken realisiert, was in der Regel sehr
teuer ist. Alternativ bietet sich eine vertiefte Analyse der bestehenden Anlagen
an, um Gewässerbelastungen durch eine intelligente Bewirtschaftung zu
reduzieren. Dies ist vor allem dort vielversprechend, wo die Regenbecken mit
Messtechnik ausgestattet sind und die Messdaten im Prozessleitsystem
aufgezeichnet werden.
Ziel
In dieser Arbeit sollen in enger Zusammenarbeit mit einem renommierten
Ingenieurbüro die Grundlagen für eine intelligente Bewirtschaftung der
Mischwasserbehandlungsanlagen für das Abwassersystem in Wohlen (AG)
erarbeitet werden. Dieses umfasst die folgenden Teilaufgaben:
 Wissenschaftliche Analyse der Entlastungsaktivität, u.a. Überprüfung
und Auswertung der vorhandenen Regenbeckendaten
 Erarbeiten eines Bewirtschaftungskonzeptes zur Reduktion von
Gewässerbelastungen durch eine optimale Ausnutzung der bestehenden
Abwasserinfrastruktur
 Vorschläge zur allfälligen Optimierung der Instrumentierung und der
Regelung abgeben.
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Das Abwassersystem in Wohlen (AG)
Das Einzugsgebiet der ARA in Wohlen (AG) verfügt über neun Anlagen zur
Mischwasserspeicherung: ein Regenbecken auf der ARA, zwei Fangkanäle im
Zulauf der ARA und sechs weitere Regenbecken im Kanalnetz. Da alle Anlagen
mit dem Prozessleitsystem auf der ARA verbunden sind, liegen für diese Arbeit
umfassende Daten von Entlastungsverhalten, Füllhöhen,
Weiterleitungsmengen, etc. für einen Zeitraum von 1 - 2 Jahren mit einer
maximalen Auflösung von 3-5 Minuten vor.
Ablauf
Zur Erarbeitung der Aufgaben sind folgende Arbeitsschritte vorgesehen:
1.
Begehung des ARA-Einzugsgebietes und Erfassung aller
Behandlungsanlagen, Entlastungsstellen im Vorfluter, sowie der Messtechnik
2.
Sichtung der GEP-Daten und Einleitungsschemata; insbesondere
konzeptionelle und technische Erfassung der vorhandenen
Entwässerungsinfrastruktur und der vorhandenen Datengrundlagen
3.
Analyse der historischen Messdaten aus dem Prozessleitsystem der ARA zur
Bewertung der aktuellen Leistung der Regenwasserbewirtschaftung: i)
Ermittlung des Füllungs- und Entlastungsverhaltens jeder
Behandlungsanlage und des Verbunds, ii) Ermittlung von Jahres-Kennzahlen,
iii) Bei Bedarf detaillierte Betrachtung von einzelnen Regenereignissen und
Regentypen.
4.
Bei Bedarf Überprüfung der aktuellen Weiterleitungsmengen mit Hilfe der
Technischen STORM-Richtlinie. Vergleich der aktuellen
Regenwasserbewirtschaftung mit im GEP festgeschriebenen Werten.
Analyse des Zusammenspiels der Entleerung der Regenbecken und der
ARA-Kapazität.
5.
Aufzeigen des Handlungsbedarfs aus den erzielten Erkenntnissen
(Entlastungsverhalten, Weiterleitungsmengen, Instrumentierung etc.).
6.
Optional: Vereinfachte Modellierung des ARA-Einzugsgebietes mit Integration
aller Speicherorte auf Basis der aktuell vorhandenen
Regenbeckeneinstellungen, historischen Regenbeckendaten und
Regenserien in einem hydrologischen oder hydrodynamischen
Niederschlags-Abfluss Modell (z.B. CityDrain, MIKEUrban oder SWMM)
Optional: Kalibration und Validation des Simulationsmodells an Messdaten für
ausgewählte Ereignisse
7.
8.
Ausarbeiten von einer oder mehreren Lösungsvarianten; wenn möglich mit
quantitativen Empfehlungen zur Optimierung hinsichtlich
Entlastungsverhalten, Weiterleitungsmengen und evtl. Instrumentierung etc.
9.
Präsentation und Diskussion der Ergebnisse mit dem Abwasserverband ARA
Wohlen
10. Aufbereitung und Dokumentation der erzielten Resultate
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Voraussetzungen
 Interesse an Urbanhydrologie, Genereller Entwässerungsplanung,
modernem Gewässerschutz und Datenanalyse
 Hohe Motivation und Initiative
 Programmierkenntnisse (R, Matlab etc.) sind von grossem Vorteil
 Kenntnisse zu hydrologischen und hydrodynamischen
Berechnungsprogrammen (City Drain, Mike Urban, SWMM, etc.) und
Langzeitseriensimulationen sind von Vorteil
 Kenntnisse im Bereich von mathematischen Optimierungsaufgaben wie
globaler Optimierung oder Mehrkriterienoptimierung sind von Vorteil
Termine, Dauer
 Die Masterarbeit beginnt ab Januar 2015, bzw. in gegenseitiger
Absprache
 Die Masterarbeit dauert 16 (+2) Wochen
 Es sind regelmässige Zwischenbesprechungen mit den Betreuern
vorgesehen (ca. 5-7)
Betreuung
Dr. Jörg Rieckermann, Eawag
Michael Brögli und Gian Levy, HOLINGER AG
Prof. Dr. Max Maurer, ETH Zürich und Eawag
Kontakt
Name: Jörg Rieckermann
Email: joerg.rieckermann @eawag.ch
Tel.: +41 (0)58 765 53 97
Assistenz Siedlungswasserwirtschaft:
Angelika Hess, Jonas Eppler, Sara Engelhard
Büro: HIL G 31.2
Email: [email protected], [email protected],
[email protected]
Tel.: +41 44 633 30 73
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Overland Flow Network delineation allowing for flow
divergence
Keywords: Digital Elevation Model, flow momentum and divergence, overland
flow network, raster analysis
Overland flow models require good 1D overland flow representation!
High-intensity rainfall events can generate flooding in urban areas, which in turn
cause serious social (e.g. injuries), economical and infrastructural damages. It
is therefore desirable to have accurate flood predictions (flood extent and water
depth).
Current research in urban flood modeling is generally focused into the area of
1D/2D modeling: the coupling of one-dimensional (1D) hydrodynamic models of
the sewer system with two-dimensional (2D) overland flow models. While 1D/2D
models generate more accurate flood predictions, they come at the cost of a
computation time when compared to the alternative 1D/1D flood model - a
prohibitive price for Swiss engineering companies. One of the main strengths of
2D overland flow models over current 1D overland flow models is the faithful
representation of diverging flow paths, a task that is currently impossible for 1D
models due to the complexity of delineating flow paths over a DEM.
Objectives
The main goal of this thesis is to develop a novel 1D overland flow path
delineation method able to take into account flow divergence. The new method
should be based on the aspect driven kinematic routing algorithm presented by
Lea (1992). This algorithm, also known as the “rolling ball algorithm”, uses the
aspect raster to delineate flow paths. Flow paths delineated using the new
method should be compared and assessed towards the results obtained using
other available 1D overland flow network generators (see Wilson et al. (2008)
for different 1D overland flow network generation algorithms).
The new method should delineate preferential flow paths as well as secondary
flow paths that only appear at higher flow regimes. The method should
represent divergent flow in a way that is compatible with the EPA StormWater
Management Model (SWWM) (Rossman, 2007).
Suggested tasks
11. Literature review on overland flow, urban drainage modelling, and input
data requirements;
12. Development of a novel method to generate 1D overland flow networks
that takes into account flow divergence (and flow momentum);
13. Comparison of the obtained overland network using the proposed
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method with networks obtained using other algorithms, on the basis of a
field test, e.g. in Adliswil;
14. Discussion of the obtained results, with a special focus on usability of
the proposed method to improve 1D overland flow/ flood modelling in
urban areas.
Requirements
 Interest in urban hydrology and hydrodynamic modelling;
 Computer programming skills;
 Good knowledge of English;
 Basic knowledge of GIS is an asset;
 A good amount of motivation and initiative
Advisors
Dr. João P. Leitão (Eawag)
Prof. Dr. Max Maurer (ETH Zürich, UWM)
Contact information
João P. Leitão
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +41 (0)58 765 67 14
Tutors (assistants) of Chairs of Urban Water Management:
Angelika Hess, Sara Engelhard, Jonas Eppler
Office: HIL G 31.2
Email: [email protected], [email protected],
[email protected],
Tel.: +41 44 633 30 73
References
Lea, N.L., (1992), An aspect driven kinematic routing algorithm. In Parsons, A.J., Abrahams,
A.D. (eds.): Overland Flow: Hydraulics and Erosion Mechanics, UCL Press, London, UK, 393–
407Rossman, L.A. (2007). Storm Water Management Model User’s Manual, EPA/600/R05/040, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Cincinnati, OH, USAWilson, J.P., Aggett,
Yongxin, D., Lam, C.S. (2008). Water in the landscape: a review of contemporary flow routing
algorithms. In Zhou, Q., Lees, B., Tang, G. (Eds.), Advances in Digital Terrain Analysis,
Springer, New York, USA, 213–236
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Taking into account future uncertainty when designing urban
water supply systems: a flexible approach
Keywords: Water Supply Systems, Flexibility in Engineering Design, Hydraulic
Modelling, Uncertainty
Background
How does future influence water supply system design and decision
making?
In the face of uncertainty about future socio-economic and climate changes, it
makes sense to keep ones' options open. This can be done by incorporating
flexibility in decisions that have long-term implications, such as the planning and
design of infrastructure systems. Flexibility, however, often comes at a cost, so
decision makers have to weight up the benefits of flexibility against the up-font
costs. Flexibility in engineering design concept (de Neufville and Scholtes,
2011) provides a framework for evaluating the benefits of keeping one's options
open, allowing decision makers to switch resources, adapt or abandon
decisions in future. Recent years have seen a few examples of uncertainty
impact analysis on urban water systems design and planning (e.g., Hug and
Maurer, 2010; Woodward et al., 2014; Marques et al., 2015).
Objectives
The proposed thesis will explore the flexibility in engineering design concept in
order to evaluate design and planning decisions that might have long-term
implications. The thesis will explore how differing states of uncertainty may
modify decisions in future. Different ways of representing uncertainty, with
probabilities and sets of possibilities, will be explored. Although Net Present
Value only represents the economic view of the problem, in this study it will be
used as the evaluation metric for the different water supply system design and
planning alternatives.
Suggested tasks
1. Literature review on water supply system design, which includes pipe,
pump and reservoir design;
2. Identification of the relevant circumstances that influence water supply
systems design and their implications in the designing process
3. Evaluation of the applicability of the flexible engineering design concept
to the improvement of existing (and not expanding) UWS.
4. Discussion of the obtained results, with a special focus on the benefit of
explicitly considering future uncertainty when designing water supply
systems.
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Requirements
 Interest in urban hydrology and hydrodynamic modelling;
 Computer programming skills;
 Good knowledge of English;
 Basic knowledge of GIS is an asset;
 A good amount of motivation and initiative
Advisors
Dr. João P. Leitão (Eawag)
Prof. Dr. Max Maurer (ETH Zürich, UWM)
Contact information
João P. Leitão
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +41 (0)58 765 67 14
Tutors (assistants) of Chairs of Urban Water Management:
Angelika Hess, Sara Engelhard, Jonas Eppler
Office: HIL G 31.2
Email: [email protected], [email protected],
[email protected],
Tel.: +41 44 633 30 73
References
de Neufville, R., Scholtes, S. (2011). Flexibility in Engineering Design. The MIT Press, MIT,
Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
Hug, T., Maurer, M. (2010). The Economic Value of Flexibility in Sewer Infrastructure Planning.
th
In 7 IWA Leading-Edge Conference on Water and Wastewater Technologies, 2-4 June,
Phoenix, USA
Marques, J., Cunha, M., Savić, D.A. (2015). Multi-objective optimization of water distribution
systems based on a real options approach. Environmental Modelling and Software, 63, 1-13.
doi: 10.1016/j.envsoft.2014.09.014
Woodward, M., Kapelan, Z., Gouldby, B. (2014). Adaptive Flood Risk Management Under
Climate Change Uncertainty Using Real Options and Optimization. Risk Analysis, 34(1), 75-92.
doi: 10.1111/risa.12088
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Dynamic Control and Monitoring of the Waste Water Treatment
Process
Background
Dynamic adaption of the control parameter from a WWTP to the load in the
influent has the potential to optimize the effluent quality and/or the cleaning
capacity. Dynamic control strategies have to be on the one hand robust to all
kinds of disturbances and should on the other hand guarantee a good cleaning
performance. This requires a monitoring strategy of the operating data, which
reflects the dynamic changes of the influent and the operational parameters in
an intuitive way to empower the operator and the consulting engineers to
supervise the WWTP and adapt the given parameters of the control loops. The
Laboratory for Environmental Engineering has developed the Software
SeNARA (Sensor Netzwerk für Abwasserreinigungsanlagen) as a platform to
develop methods for supervising control strategies. In addition the project
proposal which deals with dynamic control strategies (Dynamische Regelung
und Prozessüberwachung in der Abwasserreinigung) has been accepted from
VSA.
Case study ARA Schönau
The operational data of the ARA Schönau are analyzed to access the potential
of dynamic control strategies. Additional measurement campaigns are
conduced to get more information about the dynamic behavior of the WWTP.
The student will compare new control strategies and analyze them with
numerical simulations and optionally with test measurements. The thesis is a
part of the project SeNARA (Sensor Netzwerk für die Abwasserreinigung). It is
intended to implement results of the master thesis in the existing project.
Tasks:
1. Analyzing the operational data of the last two years.
2. Estimation the effects of the asymmetric distribution of the waste water
from the five aerobic streets on the effluent quality and the cleaning
capacity.
3. Simplified dynamic simulation to predict the efficiency of different control
strategies (Matlab, Berkley-Madonna, ASIM).
4. Proposal for optimization of nitrification and bioP.
5. Prediction of load limits.
6. Eventually experiments on the WWTP to validate model assumptions
and effects of control strategies.
Prerequisite
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The student will have direct contact to operators of waste water treatment
plants; therefore the student should speak German. Experience with Matlab is
advisable.
Specific information
The work place of the student is in the HIF building on the Hönggerberg.
Advisors
Luzia von Känel, Daniel Braun (ETH Zürich, Laboratory for Environmental
Engineering)
Prof. Dr. Eberhard Morgenroth / Prof. Dr. Max Maurer (ETH Zürich, UWM)
Contact information
Daniel Braun
Email:
[email protected]
Phone:
+41 44 633 24 54
Tutors (Assistants) of Chairs of Urban Water Management:
Tutors (assistants) of Chairs of Urban Water Management:
Angelika Hess, Sara Engelhard, Jonas Eppler
Office: HIL G 31.2
Email: [email protected], [email protected],
[email protected],
Tel.: +41 44 633 30 73
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Chairs of Urban Water Management
Start-up optimization of Anammox Systems
Background
For about three decades nitrogen has been identified as the primary nutrient
that is responsible for extensive growth of algae in the North Sea where it
caused serious damage to the aquatic fauna and flora. Switzerland has agreed
to international treaties, binding them to significantly reduce the nitrogen load in
the Rhine catchment. Until recently, elimination of nitrogen was based on the
process of denitrification. Denitrification uses anoxic metabolism of bacteria
under the presence of nitrate and the supplement of organic compounds to
produce Nitrogen gas. Because the transfer from ammonia to nitrate needs vast
amounts of oxygen, the total process chain is rather expensive and energy
consuming. In particular, the treatment of sludge water, originating from
digestion of sludge and organic waste, contains high ammonium loads.
Rather recently, Dutch scientist discovered red bacteria that are able to short
cut the nitrogen cycle. They use ammonium and nitrite to produce water and
Nitrogen gas: Anammox process. Although the reaction generates energy, the
bacteria underlie slow growth. There are a number of different technical
schemes that use Anammox for waste water treatment. However, slow bacterial
growth and high sensitivity to surrounding environmental conditions require
careful control of the system. In particular, during start-up, i.e. after the seeding
of sludge, the mixture of different bacteria undergoes rapid change. In this
phase, but also afterwards, control systems have to work in a small bandwidth
where the process is stable. However, (rapid) changes in external factors as
waste water temperature, ammonium concentration or pH, to name only a few,
may endanger the self-sustaining chain of processes.
The sludge water of the sewage treatment plant (stp) in Cham is treated by
Anammox in sequence batch reactors (SBR). During the past years operators
gained experience by testing operational variables and observed the behaviour
of the system not only by sensors but also by following the mass balances.
During these times both bacterial growth and respiration (decline) was
documented.
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Objectives of the suggested topic
Aim of this master thesis is to identify control parameters that, in an early stage,
highlight critical situations. Such parameters include cycle duration, HRT, mixed
liquor suspended solids (MLSS) or inflow concentrations of phosphate. Core of
the theses is to use methods for data analysis to link difficult operational
conditions with easy to obtain control variables.
Requirements:
This master thesis requires a strong affinity for data analyses. A background in
waste water treatment systems, (environmental) biology or equivalent is
valuable. The candidate needs to be able to work closely with the team of the
sewage treatment plant in Cham. This study focusses primary on the anammox
process in Cham. When connections within this process could be found,
exploration of the results to other anammox systems could be attempted.
Experience in data analysis as well as knowledge of script based programming
tools (Matlab, R, etc.) are valuable, knowledge of the English or German
language is required. Scientific support is assured by the main supervisor at the
stp Cham and a collaboration with Eawag.
Advisors
Dr.-Ing. Philipp Staufer
Prof. Dr. Eberhard Morgenroth
Contact information
Dr.-Ing. Philipp Staufer
Amt für Umwelt Solothurn
Email:
[email protected]
Phone:
+41 32 627 2691
Tutors (assistants) of Chairs of Urban Water Management:
Angelika Hess, Sara Engelhard, Jonas Eppler
Office: HIL G 31.2
Email: [email protected], [email protected],
[email protected],
Tel.: +41 44 633 30 73
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Amine-containing micropollutants – Modeling their pHdependent uptake and biotransformation in sludge bacteria
Keywords
Model prediction, micropollutant, biotransformation, bioavailability, activated
sludge
Background
Many micropollutant entering wastewater treatment plants contain an aminefunctional group. They are therefore partially positively charged, depending on
pH. In a series of experiments with activated sludge performed at different pH,
we found that the biotransformation of amine-containing compounds increases
with increasing pH. Thus, pH is potentially an important factor to understand
and predict differences in removal performance for basic and acidic
micropollutants between different wastewater treatment plants. Our results
indicate a qualitative correlation with the degree of speciation, but the extent of
observed pH-dependence was lower than predicted by a simple speciation
model only. Several mechanisms could potentially be responsible for the
observed attenuation of pH-dependence. Their relative contribution needs to be
better understood to quantitatively account for pH-dependent removal of
speciating micropollutants.
Objectives
The aim of this thesis is to explore different plausible mechanisms for pHdependent biotransformation by encoding them into a basic model of cellular
uptake and enzymatic transformation of speciating micropollutants and
comparison of the results to our measured data.
The suggested tasks are as follows:
1. Gain an overview over the different plausible mechanisms for attenuation
of pH-dependence based on the scientific literature.
2. Encode a published dynamic model to estimate bioavailability and
steady-state accumulation in bacterial cells in R.
3. Extend the model with the different mechanisms for attenuation of pHdependence and compare the predicted pH dependence with the
observed pH dependence, including a quantitative assessment of the
uncertainty of the model predictions. Can any mechanisms be excluded
based on this comparison? What mechanisms emerge as most likely
mechanisms?
4. Derive suggestions for future experiments to further test the
hypothesized mechanisms.
5. Documentation of the obtained results.
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Requirements
- Interest in modeling of biological systems and fate of micropollutants
during wastewater treatment
- Good programming skills (currently, a prototype of the approach is
implemented in R)
- Good knowledge of English
- A good amount of motivation and initiative
Supervisors
Dr. Kathrin Fenner, Eawag and ETHZ D-USYS
Prof. Dr. Eberhard Morgenroth, Eawag and ETHZ D-BAUG
Contact information
Dr. Kathrin Fenner
Eawag
Email:
[email protected]
Phone:
+41 58 765 50 85
Tutors (assistants) of Chairs of Urban Water Management:
Angelika Hess, Sara Engelhard, Jonas Eppler
Office: HIL G 31.2
Email: [email protected], [email protected],
[email protected],
Tel.: +41 44 633 30 73
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Automatic correction of systematic errors of rainfall-runoff
models
Keywords
Run-off predictions, Bayesian, data mining, model calibration, Gaussian
process
Rainfall-runoff modeling – physically-based vs. data mining approaches
Traditionally, run-off predictions are computed with deterministic models which
are based on physical principles. Unfortunately, such models can never capture
all processes exactly, for example because they miss relevant processes such
as evaporation, or due to equations that cannot represent a process perfectly.
This might lead to systematic deviations (bias) in the model predictions. On the
other hand, physically-based models are capable to extrapolate, i.e. to produce
reasonable predictions for extreme rainfall events that are larger than those in
the observed data used for calibration.
In contrast, models based on data mining/artificial intelligence techniques such
as regression, neuronal networks, or tree based models, are purely data driven
and contain no process knowledge. Although such black-box models often
produce very accurate predictions within the range of the observed data,
prediction for extreme events, where the model has to extrapolate, can be very
poor as no physical laws as “guidance” exist.
Figure 1: Bias correction with Gaussian processes for a toy example. The corrected
predictions (grey) follow the data (blue) much better than the deterministic model alone
(green).
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In hydrology Gaussian processes (GP’s) are sometimes used to represent the
error term (bias) of deterministic models. In data mining, however, GP’s are
applied completely different: as data driven, non-linear regression models (that
includes many neural networks as special cases). Bases on this two applications of GP’s, a recently at Eawag developed approach tries to combine the
strength of both modeling approaches: the predictions are based on a
physically-based model whose bias is corrected by a data driven model. This
correction only applies within the observed data so that extrapolation of the data
driven model is avoided.
Objectives
The aim of this thesis is to investigate the potential of the automatic model bias
correction for hydrological models.
The suggested tasks are as follows:
1. Gain a basic understand of the new model bias correction approach
with some didactical examples
2. Create synthetic data sets with a complex model (e.g. implemented
in the hydrodynamic simulator SWMM) that serves as test cases for
the calibration and correction.
3. Calibrate a simpler model on the synthetic data sets. How far can
the ‘bias correction” compensate for the simpler model structure?
What kind of model biases are corrected best?
4. Assessing the predictive performance with cross-validation.
5. Optionally, calibrate a model on real precipitation and run-off data.
6. Assessing the applicability of the approach with regard to
hydrological modeling.
7. Documentation of the obtained results.
Requirements
 Interest in model calibration techniques, probabilities and statistics
 Good programming skills (currently, a prototype of the approach is
implemented in R)
 Good knowledge of English
 A good amount of motivation and initiative
Supervison
Andreas Scheidegger, Eawag
Dr. Jörg Rieckermann, Eawag
Prof. Max Maurer, ETHZ and Eawag
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Contact
Name: Andreas Scheidegger
Email: [email protected]
Tel.: +41 58 765 5053
Tutors (assistants) of Chairs of Urban Water Management:
Angelika Hess, Sara Engelhard, Jonas Eppler
Office: HIL G 31.2
Email: [email protected], [email protected],
[email protected],
Tel.: +41 44 633 30 73
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Chairs of Urban Water Management
Calibrating urban inundation models using novel information
from social media
Keywords
Urban flood modeling, water level information, facebook, twitter, flickr
Accurate urban flood models need good output data
Urban floods can happen in a relatively short period of time and can inundate
large areas with significant water depths. Ongoing urbanization and increase of
heavy rainfall events, e.g. from climate change, increase flood risks in cities. As
economic damages of urban flooding are usually high, especially in city centers,
it would be desirable to have accurate predictions of flood zones.
Recent developments in flood modeling suggest that coupled (1D/2D) onedimensional (1D) hydrodynamic models for sewer pipe network systems and
two-dimensional (2D) surface flow models predicts urban inundation more
accurately than traditional 1D/1D models. Unfortunately, as such floods only
occur very locally with minutes to hours, it is virtually impossible to obtain the
required surface water level data in flooded areas to calibrate such models.
Objectives
The goal of this thesis is to investigate how far information obtained from social
media, such as facebook, twitter, flickr can provide local information on urban
floods. This can also include other relevant data sources such as webcams or
newspaper archives. Possible approaches could be to search and download the
data, such as text, images or videos, using the provided Web APIs or use webscarping services such as ScraperWiki. To identify the relevant content a
classification based on meta-data such as coordinates, time, tags and EXIF
date could be applied. Similarly, time and street names could be scraped for
posts on twitter or facebook. Flood images or videos most probably still require
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a manual assessment of the water level or spread however, a good preselection could minimize this effort considerably.
The suggested tasks are as follows:
1. Revision of literature on surface flood modeling and data requirements on
urban flooding;
2. Literature study on possible social media sources and ways to extract
relevant information (APIs) for surface flood model calibration;
3. Investigation of data type and meta-data (e.g. date, local, coordinates, etc.),
quality and completeness: how far can social media data contain information
to urban flood modeling?
4. Testing and implementation of a proof-of-concept: generation of a spatiotemporal dataset, e.g. of flood zones or water levels.
5. Assessing the results with regard to urban flood modeling.
For example: which is more useful, water table information or the extent of flooded areas?
Are flood levels with an accuracy of 1-2 m still useful for urban drainage?
6. Documentation of the obtained results
Requirements
 Good computer programming skills (Python, Ruby, R)
 Good knowledge of English
 Interest in social media analysis and urban hydrology
 A good amount of motivation and initiative
 Basic knowledge of Web API programming and GIS is an asset
Supervison
Dr. Jörg Rieckermann, Eawag
Dr. João P. Leitão, Eawag
Andreas Scheidegger, Eawag
Prof. Max Maurer, ETHZ and Eawag
Contact
Name: Jörg Rieckemann
Email: [email protected]
Tel.: +41 (0)58 765 5397
Tutors (assistants) of Chairs of Urban Water Management:
Angelika Hess, Sara Engelhard, Jonas Eppler
Office: HIL G 31.2
Email: [email protected], [email protected],
[email protected],
Tel.: +41 44 633 30 73
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Ambient water quality assessment of micropollutants in
Switzerland
Background
A great number of substances showing a very small effect concentration are
irreplaceable in various fields, such as medicine, personal care products,
pesticides etc. Some of these so-called micropollutants have been claimed as
potentially harmful to not only the aquatic environment but also human health.
After the relevance of certain sources have been quantified quantified, the focus
can shift towards the receiving water body.
Objective and content of the suggested topic
The thesis aims to provide a solid basis to indicate whether wet-weather
discharges are harmful to the environment. Contrary to waste water treatment
plants, where treated waste water is released continuously, urban drainages
emit pulses of contaminants. Therefore, a conceptual framework could be used
to predict hazards due to wet weather discharges in rivers.
Tasks
1. Overview of sources of selected micro pollutants
2. Data assessment (rivers and flow)
3. Adaptation of the concept of “toxic units” to wet weather discharges from
urban areas and implementation into the script language R
4. Combined analysis of the Swiss river network and the sewer
infrastructure by means of Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
5. System analysis and comparison of results with water quality data
6. Development of urban indicators suitable for ambient water quality
criteria
Prerequisites
Affinity to system analysis and modeling
Experience in computer based models (especially conceptual models)
good English language skills
Experienced with script oriented programming environments (R, Matlab)
advisable
Advisors
Prof. Dr. Max Maurer
Dr. Philipp Staufer (Amt für Umwelt, Kanton Solothurn)
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Contact information
Dr.-Ing. Philipp Staufer
Amt für Umwelt Solothurn
Email:
[email protected]
Phone:
+41 32 627 2691
Tutors (assistants) of Chairs of Urban Water Management:
Angelika Hess, Sara Engelhard, Jonas Eppler
Office: HIL G 31.2
Email: [email protected], [email protected],
[email protected],
Tel.: +41 44 633 30 73
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Evaluating the influence of hydrolysis on the quality of drinking
water produced during Gravity-Driven Membrane filtration
Background
Biofouling reduces permeate flux in membrane filtration systems and significant
efforts are directed towards preventing biofilm formation on the surface of
membrane (backwashing, chemical cleaning, etc.). Practical experience,
however, demonstrates that biofilm formation cannot be prevented. Removal of
biofilms requires significant amounts of energy and chemicals, which
significantly increases costs of operation of membrane systems. Conventional
membrane filtration with biofilm control is thus not adapted to the decentralized
production of drinking water in developing countries.
Gravity-Driven Membrane (GDM)
filtration without control of the biofilm
formation was recently introduced
(Peter-Varbanets et al., 2010)
(figure 1). During GDM filtration
biofilm formation on the membrane
is tolerated and the focus is on
maximizing the permeability of the
biofilm. Under these conditions a
highly permeable biofilm is formed
and allows for long-term (several
months) operation of the system
without maintenance. The operation
of the system at constant permeate
flux (i.e. constant hydraulic
resistance of the biofilm) suggests
that the incoming Particulate
Organic Matter (POM) is
continuously degraded due to
endogenous decay processes (e.g.
hydrolysis). It is suggested that
enhanced hydrolysis of POM is
induced by the long solid residence
time. What is however not clear is
how does hydrolysis impact in turn
the quality of the permeate (e.g.
release of organic carbon content
that increases the risk of pathogen
regrowth). The present study thus
aims at quantifying hydrolysis
activities and at evaluating its
influence on the permeate quality
over long term (several weeks). An
improved understanding of the role
of hydrolysis during GDM filtration is
an important step towards
broadening the application of GDM
filtration in both the developed and
the developing world. This study
would also contribute to better
understand the degradation of
endogenous process residues in
WW treatment plants operated at
long SRTs.
Figure 4: Picture of a GDM prototype tested in
Kenya for the decentralized production of
drinking water (Picture from M. PeterVarbanets).
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Objectives of the suggested MS topic
The objectives of this master thesis will be:
- To evaluate how the long SRT maintained in GDM systems influence the
hydrolysis of the organic matter.
- To quantify the hydrolysis rate and the specific activities of different
enzymes involved the hydrolysis process (e.g. glucosidase).
- To identify the effect of the organic matter accumulation on the permeate
quality.
- To define how to better operate GDM filtration to limit release of organic
substrate and the risk pathogen regrowth in the drinking water.
Parallel GDM systems will be operated at different Solid Residence Time (SRT).
SRT will be controlled by either controlling the biofilm accumulation on the
membrane surface or by removing the settled organic matter in the GDM tank.
The performances of the GDM systems will be evaluated in terms of permeate
quality and flux. Permeate quality will be monitored in terms of Dissolved
Organic Carbon (DOC), Assimilable Organic Carbon (AOC) and organic carbon
fractions (biopolymers, building blocks, etc). Hydrolysis process will be
evaluated through mass balances and measurement of enzymatic activities
(using different fluorescent substrates for enzymes).
Specific information
This research will be performed in the department of Process Engineering at
Eawag. Office space with computer and an existing experimental facility will be
provided. Further information about our facilities and approaches are provided
at http://www.eawag.ch/membranefilter
Advisors
Professor Dr. Eberhard Morgenroth
Dr. Nicolas Derlon (Eawag)
Contact information
Nicolas Derlon
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +41 44 823 5378
Tutors (assistants) of Chairs of Urban Water Management:
Angelika Hess, Sara Engelhard, Jonas Eppler
Office: HIL G 31.2
Email: [email protected], [email protected],
[email protected],
Tel.: +41 44 633 30 73
References
Peter-Varbanets, M., F. Hammes, M. Vital and W. Pronk (2010). Stabilization of flux during dead-end ultralow pressure ultrafiltration. Water Research. 44(12): 3607-3616.
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Evaluation of different membrane configurations for decentralized
drinking water treatment
Background
Within our group, a new membrane process was developed for drinking water
treatment. The process consists of gravity-driven ultrafiltration without any
cleaning or flushing operation. After an initial phase of flux decline, the flux
stabilizes at a level of around 4-10 L/m2/h, depending on the feed water quality.
The flux remains constant for extended periods of time (at least 18 months)
without any maintenance. Investigations of the process have shown that the flux
stabilization is related to biological activity in the fouling layer, leading to a
relatively open, permeable structure of this layer. Due to the fact that no pumps
and no operation is needed, the process can be run completely autonomously
and is very suitable for decentralized and low-cost applications such as required
in households in developing countries. Currently, implementation tests are
being carried out in Kenya.
Focus of the suggested thesis
With regard to the feasibility of the process, it is important that low-cost
membranes can be used. So far, experiments have been carried out mainly with
flat-sheet membranes which are relatively expensive. Hollow-fiber or capillary
membranes are more cost-efficient, but fouling phenomena still need to be
studied and optimized. In principle two different operation modes can be
applied: inside-out or outside-in. The advantage of inside-out operation is that
high packing densities are possible. A disadvantage is the fact that the fibers
may get internally clogged. Therefore, both configurations need to be
investigated. Suitable membrane modules will be operated with river water and
the stable flux values will be assessed. The fouling phenomena will be
investigated both macroscopically and microscopically. These characterization
methods are largely available, so no extensive method development will be
required. Based on the results, optimization methods will be developed and
implemented. Finally, cost calculations will be carried out to compare the
modules with flat-sheet modules.
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Chair of Urban Water Management
Cartoon showing the principle of the process
membrane module (used for instruction in Kenya)
Flat-sheet
Requirements:
- Process Engineering I and II
- A good amount of interest and motivation
Advisors
Wouter Pronk, Eawag
Contact
Wouter Pronk
Email: [email protected]
Tutors (assistants) of Chairs of Urban Water Management:
Angelika Hess, Sara Engelhard, Jonas Eppler
Office: HIL G 31.2
Email: [email protected], [email protected],
[email protected],
Tel.: +41 44 633 30 73
58/60
Chair of Urban Water Management
Understanding the mechanisms of formation of aerobic
granules during treatment of municipal wastewater
Background
Aerobic granular sludge is a promising technology for the treatment of municipal
wastewater with simultaneous removal of organic matter, nitrogen and
phosphorus. Compared to conventional activated sludge, the advantages of
aerobic granules include fast settling velocity (i.e. easier separation between the
treated water and the biomass), higher Solid Retention Time (allowing for the
growth of slow growing bacteria), higher biomass concentration and thus
reduced reactor volume. Many studies that aimed at identifying the mechanisms
of granulation of activated sludge were performed at the laboratory-scale and
using synthetic wastewater. Also, removal of slow-settling flocs was achieved
by gradually decreasing the settling time prior removal of the supernatant.
Several factors were proposed to influence the granulation process such as the
carbon source, the hydrodynamic shear force, the feast–famine regime, the
feeding strategy, etc. However only limited information is available with regard
of the feasibility of granulation of activated sludge on real municipal wastewater
(WW) (i.e. low substrate concentration) and of the kinetic of granule formation
(Liu et al., 2010; Ni et al., 2009). Also, it is not clear if successful selection of
fast-settling granules can be achieved based on the WW upflow velocity during
the feeding period. These aspects have to be addressed prior broader
application of this technology.
Objectives
This overall objective of this project are thus (i) to better understand the
mechanisms of granule formation in a Sequencing Batch Reactor (SBR) during
treatment of real municipal WW, (ii) to evaluate the kinetics of aerobic granule
formation, and (iii) to test of strategy of selection of the fast-settling granules
based on the WW upflow velocity during the feeding period.
A SBR of 190 L is available for the cultivation of the granules on real municipal
WW and operated at constant liquid volume. The sequence that will be tested
for the development of aerobic granules includes: feeding of the wastewater by
the reactor bottom, anaerobic phase, high shear aerobic phase, and then
anoxic phase. An increasing WW upflow velocity (from 5 to 25 m.h -1) will be
applied to select the fast-settling granules and removed the slow-settling flocs.
Characterization of the sludge in terms of sludge concentration (VSS and TSS),
Sludge Velocity Index (SVI) and mass fraction of granules (sieving) will be
performed and linked to the operating conditions. Biodegradation rates of the
organic matter, nitrogen and phosphorus will be quantified to evaluate the
system performances. Additional bacterial activity (e.g. storage) may also be
evaluated.
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Chair of Urban Water Management
Specific information
This research will be performed in the department of Process Engineering at
Eawag. Office space with computer and an existing experimental facility will be
provided.
Advisors
Professor Dr. Eberhard Morgenroth
Dr. Nicolas Derlon (Eawag)
Contact information
Nicolas Derlon
Email:
[email protected]
Phone:
+41 44 823 5378
Tutors (assistants) of Chairs of Urban Water Management:
Angelika Hess, Sara Engelhard, Jonas Eppler
Office: HIL G 31.2
Email: [email protected], [email protected],
[email protected],
Tel.: +41 44 633 30 73
References
Liu, Y. Q., B. Moy, Y. H. Kong and J. H. Tay (2010). Formation, physical characteristics and
microbial community structure of aerobic granules in a pilot-scale sequencing batch reactor for
real wastewater treatment. Enzyme and Microbial Technology. 46(6): 520-525.
Ni, B. J., W. M. Xie, S. G. Liu, H. Q. Yu, Y. Z. Wang, G. Wang and X. L. Dai (2009). Granulation
of activated sludge in a pilot-scale sequencing batch reactor for the treatment of low-strength
municipal wastewater. Water Research. 43(3): 751-761.
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