Recent years have seen numerous studies and research projects to determine the extent to which trace substances can be removed from sanitation wastewater and urban runoff. They have shown that using ozone or activated carbon for that purpose is a technically feasible and economically sound option. Currently, systems for supplementing the processes in sewage treatment plants with ozoning are being planned and built at various sites in Germany and Switzerland. Their objective is to reduce the amount of trace substances discharged into surface waters.

Advanced wastewater purification with ozone requires a fully developed strategy for controlling or regulating the ozone injection into the medium to be treated. Both under- and over-dosages can be expected as a result of the fluctuating content of ozone-depleting substances. In practice, this type of regulation strategy has only been tested in isolated cases. In particular, the reliability of online meters posed clear challenges to the operators of pilot systems for ozoning. An optimised, stable measurement and regulation concept that can be implemented in systems at full scale is urgently required.

The MeReZon project was initiated to develop an innovative instrumentation and control engineering concept that enables sustainable, optimal, needs-based ozone dosing in sewage treatment plants.  TriOS Mess- und Datentechnik GmbH (responsible for measurement technology and project coordination), Berlin Centre of Competence for Water (responsible for developing the control/regulation concept) and Berliner Wasserbetriebe are the partners who will implement the two-year project.  The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)’s “KMU-innovativ” funding initiative for small and medium-sized enterprises is funding the project.

Project partners
TriOS Mess- und Datentechnik GmbH (Coordinator); Kompetenzzentrum Wasser Berlin; Berliner Wasserbetriebe (associated partner)