The treatment and recycling of wastewater right at the consumer’s location (zero liquid discharge) opens a chance for the sustainable handling of water. However, the equipment needed for the treatment of water are very complex. Throughout the day, the quantity of the accumulating wastewater, as well as the nature of its pollution, varies greatly. Moreover, the treatment of water needs to be incorporated into the water cycle of the user.
Goal of the “ZeroLiKh” project is to examine the treatment and recycling of water in a hospital setting. In the mid- and long-term run, the developmental work done in the project can contribute to implementing zero-liquid-discharge approaches in other fields, as well, such as in the industry or in private households.
In a first step, the project investigates what quantities of wastewater accumulate from what sites of the hospital (e.g., labs or patient rooms), and what kinds of pollution the accumulating wastewater is laden with. Depending on what section of the hospital the wastewater accrues from, different kinds of pollution may originate, each of which the wastewater treatment has to be adjusted to. At a hospital, one element playing a special role is pharmaceuticals that can travel through digestion and excretion to find their way into the wastewater.
The project uses new and refined methods of analysis to examine the different wastewater flows with respect to the nature of their pollution and the quality and quantity of pollutants. In a next step, the project develops processes and technologies for the selective treatment of wastewaters from differently polluted wastewater flows.
This approach allows a reduction of wastewater quantities, or else the creation of wastewater-free sections, and a reduction of the water demand. “ZeroLiKh” thus contributes to the long-term establishment of principles of a circular economy in the realm of water use at the hospital.
