Read more about the scientific background of the programme - Water Technology
New water process technology needs to be developed in order to produce clean water from alternative sources like salt (sea) water, waste water or humid air minimizing the use of precious groundwater and to treat waste water and to recover valuable compounds. These challenges require academically-trained experts that can think out of the box and help to find process oriented technological solutions in the near future. To train and educate these experts a dedicated joint master’s programme in Water Technology has been set up.
Water technology is a multi- and interdisciplinary specialised master's programme, based on combined knowledge from various disciplines, e.g. microbiology, chemistry, process engineering, electrochemistry, physics, membrane science and crystallisation. Water technology combines biological and chemical conversion (science) with separation technologies, sophisticated technological systems and new/improved materials (technology). This combination offers many opportunities to develop innovations in water treatment processes, especially when researchers with various backgrounds work together. The main research areas are covered by the advanced knowledge from natural sciences including mathematics and modelling.
Despite the enormous importance for society and the challenges for the market, water technology is not a focus point of most academic research and education programmes. Instead, the expertise of various research groups is usually concentrated on other processes and in some cases only later dedicated to water treatment in spin-off projects. Solutions are required for existing and new global problems related to the availability and quality of water for personal, agricultural, and industrial use in a sustainable manner with a minimal impact on the environment. Considering the worldwide challenges, the contribution of water technology to the sustainable use of water is of upmost importance and research as well as education with a focus on this discipline is legitimate.
The design of the programme reflects on abovementioned outline and is approached from a multidisciplinary perspective, bridging new technological developments on one hand and engineering application facing societal challenges on the other.