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FROM RESEARCH TO APPLICATION

In research & development, our services range from the innovation of new ideas, grounding in reality, submission of proposals to acquisition of public funding. As coordinators, we often take the lead in large collaborative projects with partners from businesses, politics, science, and society. Together with companies, we develop commercial products from the initial idea until they are ready for the market - we are the partner for preliminary laboratory tests, semi-technical piloting, and scientific advise for large-scale implementation. We place great emphasis on practical application and exploitation of project results.

Our success stories include project families such as the production of hydrogen in wastewater treatment plants, climate adaptation in municipalities, digitalization in water monitoring, concepts for water reuse, and water resource management in Asia and Africa.

FiW has the best conditions for research & development - with highly qualified scientific staff: as a non-profit association supported by members of the water sector, as an affiliated institute of RWTH Aachen University, and supported by a research advisory board in which representatives from companies, engineering firms, ministries, authorities, and development cooperation actively engage in transfer of research.

OUR PRODUCT PORTFOLIO

Research must shape innovation, point out new pathways, question the traditional, cross disciplines, think in contexts, pursue bold ideas, and accept detours and dead-ends along the way. True to the motto: "Everyone said it couldn't be done, until someone came along and did it".

In cooperation with manufacturers and plant operators, we work on the development of new products and optimisation of environmental technology. We develop products and test plants at various Technology Readiness Levels (TRL). As an application-oriented transfer institute, we are not active in fundamental research, but develop, plan, and operate semi-technical pilot plants and demonstrators (TRL 5 to TRL 7) as well as support companies in the scale-up of customised solutions and their optimisation in operation (TRL 8 and 9). We operate our pilot plants together with partners on-site. This applies both to plants in Germany and robust mobile container solutions in international cooperation worldwide.

We prepare individual studies and expert opinions on a wide range of issues. With the expertise of our interdisciplinary team, we analyse both technical mechanisms as well as economic and social framework conditions. We carry out system analyses and use forecasting models and scenario analyses to develop forward-looking concepts for action. To ensure that they achieve their aims we prepare practical guidelines and monitoring concepts.

Water management is often facing conflicting usages. FiW has many years of experience with dialogue-oriented approaches in which the focus is on finding consensus between different groups of actors. Through knowledge-based moderation, viable solutions are developed, e.g. for competing water uses in the advancing climate change, for urban planning in water-sensitive urban development, for land use competitions in flood protection, and for minimising contaminant emissions in river protection.

Together with research and development partners from the global South, we work on solutions to tackle climate change. The supply of water and sanitation, sustainable water management, water reuse, and scoping with heavy rainfall and drought are key areas of our work, along with food and energy security. We develop new solutions in research projects, advise municipalities, companies, development banks and development organisations, and train personnel in capacity development. Co-design is one of our trademarks: all projects are developed and implemented closely together with local partners.

References

AIX-Net-WWR

AIX-Net-WWR

Aachen Network for Waste Water Reuse

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awaregio | Waterreuse

awaregio | Waterreuse

Modular wastewater treatment processes for the reuse in agriculture, aquaponics and the substitution of drinking water resources

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ClearWater

ClearWater

Entwicklung eines KI-basierten optischen Messsystems zur Überwachung des Flockungsmitteldosierprozesses im Abwasser und Reduktion polyacrylamidbasierter Flockungsmittel mit Hilfe von Dualflockung

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COVIDready

Transfer from research into routine application

Holistic evaluation of available findings of SARS-CoV-2 wastewater monitoring for the pandemic assessment in North Rhine-Westphalia

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dynaklim

Dynamic adaptation of regional planning and development processes to the effects of climate change

dynaklim – Using the example of the Emscher-Lippe region (Ruhr area)

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E-BO(2)t

Hydrogen-based sector coupling between water, energy, and transportation

E-BO(2)t – Production of electrolysis-based methanol fuels and oxygen utilization in wastewater treatment at the WWTP Bottrop

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GREEN-BEE

Methanol synthesis from sewage gas

GREEN-BEE - Market- and product-oriented further development of the concept for synthesizing methanol from sewage gas

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HoWaMan | Iran

Flood risk management in semi-arid and arid areas

HoWaMan in Iran

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I-WALAMAR | Morocco

Future-oriented technologies and services for a sustainable land management

I-WALAMAR – Water- und land management in Morocco

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InoCottonGROW | Pakistan

From cotton field to hanger

InoCottonGROW – Global cotton textile industry: the german water footprint in Pakistan

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InRePlast

InRePlast – Plastics in the environment

Environmental political instruments to reduce the plastic pollution of inland waters via drainage systems

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INTEWAR | Cameroon

Sustainable water use in Cameroon

INTEWAR – Innovative Technologies for the containment of Water Associated Diseases

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iResilience

Getting active together for a good climate

iResilience – Social innovations and smart city infrastructures for the resilient city of the future

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mobileVIEW

mobileVIEW – the mobile measuring station

Use of sensor data from moving vehicles to record precipitation information as part of the digitisation strategy in water management

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NitroSX

Anoxic Biowash for Biogas Desulfurization as a Contribution to the Climate Future

NitroSX – Microbiological Biogas Desulphurisation

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Power-to-Fuel

Power-to-Fuel

New processes for the production of climate-neutral energy sources based on biogas and renewable surplus electricity

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R2K-Klim+

R2K-Klim+

Strategic decision support tool for adaptation to climate change on a regional and municipal level in the Rhine area

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RAIN | Ghana

RAIN – Climate adaptation in Ghana

Sustainable technologies and services for climate change adaptation in flood and drought-prone settlements in Ghana

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render | Urban Region Aachen

render – More renewable energies

Regional dialogue on energy change - together on the way to an energy region

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RiverCloud

RiverCloud

UAV/USV tandem system for the collection and provision of high-resolution data for water management and the expansion and maintenance of waterways

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RiverView®

RiverView® – Water status-related monitoring and management

Going to the bottom of the water

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SewerScan

SewerScan

SewerScan – digital recording of sewers

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SolNahWal

Solar heat for Walheim

SolNahWal – Feasibility study for a fourth-generation heating network system ("Heating network systems 4.0") at Aachen-Walheim

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Trace substance elimination

Trace substance elimination from CP plants

Best Available Techniques (BAT) for reducing the entry of micropollutants from wastewater of CP Treatment Plants for hazardous waste into water bodies

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TeGeRam

TeGeRam

High-precision measurement technology for standing and flowing waters

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Textile curved sieve

Textile curved sieve

Filter system for solids separation from wastewater streams with low-maintenance cleaning concept based on structured pile textiles with defined separation behavior

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TransPhoR

TransPhoR

Holistic approaches for a sustainable phosphorus cycle

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WaterReTunE | Tunisia

WaterReTunE

Water Reuse in Tunisia

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