Practical Insights into Smart Waste Water Management

Excursion to the wastewater treatment plant in Strass im Zillertal in the course "Fluid Dynamics"

Our third-semester students had another excursion experience at the start of the year: On January 15, they were able to gain valuable practical insights into intelligent (waste)water management during a visit to the Strass wastewater treatment plant in the Zillertal valley.

Lecturer Manuel Berger prepared the students for this excursion opportunity in his “Fluid Dynamics” course: In particular, what water circulation, cleaning systems and the behavior of various liquids in the flow of a wastewater treatment plant mean for building planners was explained to the students in the lecture hall and on site in the premises of the wastewater treatment plant.

The functional principle of the wastewater treatment plant was explained in detail at the beginning: objects that exceed a surface area of 3 x 3 millimetres are passed from a mechanical cleaning process to a two-stage biological process via the screen upstream of the wastewater treatment plant. In these respective basins, a decision is made as to how further recycling is possible, depending on the material composition of the object in question.

In the digestion towers, for example, gas is produced from the collected wastewater. This can in turn be converted into electrical energy and used for heating or power supply – a further benefit for the smartly planned building and therefore an important insight for our students into the connection between the components “wastewater” and “energy supply”.

We would like to thank Martin Hell and Stefanie Rainer from Achental – Inntal – Zillertal (AIZ) wastewater association for their dedicated guided tours and our lecturer Manuel Berger for his great commitment to providing our students with practical insights into his specialist area in his fluid-dynamic teaching units, even off-campus.