Start of Living Labs
Three final year Bachelor’s students from the Technical University, Delft in The Netherlands joined the Institute for Water and Wastewater Technology (IWWT), Durban University of Technology (DUT) in September 2019 to undertake their research work as a part of OKP’s living lab program. The students’ research topics were centred around living lab 1, which was selected as the desalination remix plant situated in Central Wastewater treatment works, Durban, in collaboration with the eThekwini Water and Sanitation (EWS) and Hitachi Ltd.
During their tenure at IWWT, the Delft students were allowed to familiarize themselves with the desalination remix plant through multiple site visits, and had interactions with the staff and students at IWWT. After completion of their project, an interactive discussion session was organized at IWWT, involving undergraduate and postgraduate students from DUT as well as representatives from EWS. All three students from Delft gave excellent presentations on their chosen topic which are outlined below.
Stijn Lamers: Evaluation of the Remix Water plant regarding post-treatment optimization
Jakob Grosfeld: Alternatives for brine water management
Quinten Thomas: Alternative set-ups for the membrane bioreactor regarding the Remix Water plant
The research contribution of the students from the Technical University, Delft in the OKP project will be used to improve knowledge and practices within eThekwini Water and Sanitation. Besides, the South African students from IWWT are expected to continue work on the above-chosen projects from January 2020.
Bridging the Water is part of the Orange Knowledge Programme.
