Marco Hartl

Name:

Marco Hartl

Nationality:

Austrian

Project ID:

ESR12

Optimal design and operation criteria of constructed wetland-bioelectrochemical systems (CW-BES) for the treatment of wastewater

Short CV / biography:

At BOKU University, Vienna, I specialized myself in Ecological Engineering and wrote a master thesis about an innovative two-stage vertical flow constructed wetland (CW) in the alpine region of Austria. Subsequently, I coordinated a research project at the world’s largest industrial CW, which treats oil produced water in the desert of Oman. In the super-W project, my CW experience will be combined with the exciting field of bio-electrochemical systems (BES).

Marco on Linkedin

Marco on Researchgate

Short description of my topic:

The overall PhD’s objective is to provide sustainable wastewater treatment in rural areas by combining CWs with BES and recover valuable resources by doing so. CW are an economic and ecologic alternative for conventional wastewater treatment in small settlements and will be the main technology assessed in combination with BES - particularly Microbial Fuel Cells (MFC’s) and Microbial Electrolysis Cells (MEC’s). In MFC’s and MEC’s, active bacteria break down and remove organic matter from the wastewater while producing electricity. When incorporated in a CW, these BES can increase the treatment efficiency and thereby reduce the area required for purification. BES might also used as a biosensor, for example, to monitor the content of organic matter and other biologically active compounds throughout the CW system.

My progress / state of the art :

I am finalizing the construction of the experimental setup. At the start, there will be 9 lab-scale CW-BES systems (60x40x25cm). In a first step these systems are evaluated to (1) enhance removal of emerging contaminants (EC), (2) recover struvite at the cathode, and (3) promote Anammox processes, while treating domestic wastewater. Also the effect of continuous and discontinuous flow is studied.