SULFAMOS research project

The project

One of the late effects of opencast lignite mining in Germany is the large-scale iron and sulphate contamination of ground and surface waters. While iron pollution can be reduced to a large extent by mine water treatment plants and other measures, no large-scale solutions have yet been implemented to reduce sulphate pollution. Although various processes exist for sulphate removal (e.g. ettringite precipitation, nanofiltration and precipitation, microbiological sulphate reduction), these have various disadvantages: they are either too expensive, they generate large quantities of sludge or they require a very large amount of space.

In the SULFAMOS research project, a process engineering solution was to be developed which, in addition to reducing the sulphate load, also includes the production of valuable substances such as gypsum for the building materials industry.

The process engineering solution combines the process stages of forward osmosis and precipitation. Compared to pressure-driven reverse osmosis, forward osmosis offers energy-saving potential and significantly better scaling behaviour on the membrane surface.

The operation of the prototype plant to be realised in the project at different locations will ensure that the developed technology can be used flexibly and can be adapted to different water compositions.

Close partnership in a network

As part of the BMBF programme "Water Research and Water Innovations for Sustainability - Water:N", six collaborative project partners under the coordination of G.E.O.S. Engineering are working closely together in the project to overcome the material and process technology challenges within the timeframe of the project.

Participants in the joint project are:

• G.E.O.S. Ingenieurgesellschaft mbH
• fluvicon Industries GmbH
• MionTec GmbH
• HTW Dresden, Department of Water Engineering
• Fraunhofer Gesellschaft,  Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology
• Water and wastewater association Bornaer Land

Coordinator of the project is G.E.O.S. Ingenieurgesellschaft mbH.

First-class competences in the work schemes

The SULFAMOS work plan is divided into six sub-work schemes - distributed among the key competences of the collaborative partners:

• Work scheme 1 - Head of AP: IGB
  Development of the forward osmosis hollow fibre membrane
  
  
• Work scheme 2 - Head of AP: fluvicon
  Development and production of the modules
  
  
• Work scheme 3 - Head of AP: HTW Dresden
  Process development
  
  
• Work scheme 4 - Head of AP: MionTec
  Design and construction of the prototype
  
  
• Work scheme 5 - Head of AP: G.E.O.S.
  Practical tests
  
  
• Work scheme 6 - Head of AP: G.E.O.S.
  Possible commercialisation of the products and the process

Funding

The project, which is part of the networking and transfer project  „WavE Wassertechnologien: Wiederverwendung“ ("WavE Water Technologies: Reuse") is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and supervised by the project management organisation Karlsruhe (funding code 02WV1573A).