ZauBer project addressed the task of treating contaminated sludge and water from the “Rote Graben”, a historic mine water drainage canal that has lost its function due to around 13,000 tons of sludge, by designing and implementing an on-site pilot plant. The pilot plant comprises 3 process stages: a chamber filter press for sludge dewatering, a multi-stage membrane plant for continuous water treatment and discontinuous treatment of the press water, as well as a precipitation line. The efficiency of the on-site process was confirmed due to the test operation in real environment. Furthermore, the dewatered sludge was successfully processed into alloys (Fe/Mn/Zn/Si/Cu) and geopolymers.

The BMBF-funded project (03WIR1908A) is part of the rECOmine network and a cooperation between the Institute of Technical Chemistry, the Institute of Thermal-, Environmental- and Resources’ Process Engineering  (TU BAF), terra mineralia (TU BAF) and the regional companies G.E.O.S Ingenieurgesellschaft mbH, INTEC Gesellschaft für Injektionstechnik mbH & Co. KG, SAXONIA Standortentwicklungs- und verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH and Befesa Zinc Freiberg GmbH.