Institut für Wasser- und Energiemanagement (iwe)
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This master thesis aims to investigate the current state of wastewater treatment practices in the Jordanian cement industry and explore the potential for transferring advanced techniques from the global state of the art. The research will analyze the existing wastewater management approaches, identify areas for improvement, and provide recommendations for implementing more efficient and environmentally sustainable treatment methods in selected Jordanian cement companies. By examining the current challenges and opportunities, this study seeks to contribute to the advancement of wastewater treatment in the Jordanian cement sector, ultimately promoting environmental stewardship and responsible industrial practices.
Buildings are as diverse as people themselves. As a result, it has become difficult to keep track of the technologically possible measures. But climate change is advancing and those who do not adapt to this change will have a hard time in the future. The goal is to investigate Green Buildings and identify possibilities for KSB to adapt to the future.
The research topic is as follows: "The Future of Sustainable Building: Potential Analysis of Green Buildings from a Water Management Perspective exemplified by KSB SE & Co. KGaA." The research topic was approached in two ways. Firstly, a literature search was carried out on existing green buildings. Secondly, KSB internal and KSB external experts were interviewed to assess the future situation. In this way, potentials for KSB in the area of green building were identified. The potentials were subsequently evaluated using the Priority Model of Sustainability. For this purpose, beneficial attributes were named for the respective dimension of sustainability and the respective potential. The attributes are used for potential analysis and were all worth one point in each dimension. The point scale starts at 0 (if a potential in a particular dimension does not offer any namable advantages) and ends at a maximum score of 10.
The results suggest that increased digitalization of the company's own products will bring great opportunities in the future. In addition, the results and research show that in the future the focus will be much more on the natural handling of rainwater. Similar to the increase in interest in rainwater management, there are opportunities for OEM partnership with urban greening companies.
Continued engagement in these matters will be the way forward.
Maintaining balance in the hydrological cycle is crucial for nature, but extreme weather events such as droughts and heavy downpours can disrupt it. Unfortunately, the frequency of such events has increased in recent years and is expected to continue in the future (IPCC, 2021). Urban areas are particularly vulnerable to this condition, due to its sealed surfaces and limited green spaces resulting from anthropogenic activities. Decentralized stormwater management strategies are realised to be better in mitigating the effects of such events, and this research aims to explore the importance of green buildings in managing stormwater in the selected catchment areas. Two properties have been chosen for the study: an elementary school in Schauenstein and Hof University of Applied Science. The study examines in detail the general characteristics of the chosen areas, their historical climatic data, and the KOSTRA DATA (refer 3.7). The research analyses the selected buildings and their surrounding properties, the various components of their water balance involved, the methods to calculate them, its advantages, limitations, and requirements were also compared. Based on the study, an excel-based calculation model has been developed focusing on the stormwater management aspect, to find out the major components involved in the water balance of the green building and its surrounding properties that can control surface runoff from the property. The developed calculation model works on the major aspects of water accumulation and consumption of selected green buildings and its surroundings. The tool can be used to predict runoff from the properties during different storm events, based on which the volume of a stormwater collection tank can be calculated, which can store runoff from the catchment area and can be used during droughts for irrigation purposes, thereby reducing the pressure on drainage flow and water treatment plants. The study also tries to identify the effects of water balance parameters like rainfall, evapotranspiration and storage on runoff from a property. The model also checks the tank's condition for future storm events with a 3, 5,10 and 100-year return period, using KOSTRA DATA 2020. Both the study areas are assumed to have green roofs, and the runoff results from the roofs occupied by them are validated using detention modeller software developed by green roof diagnostics.
Approximately 71% of Earth's surface is covered by water, with only 3% being fresh water suitable for human use, a majority of which is trapped in glaciers and permafrost. Freshwater ecosystems, vital for sustaining life and biodiversity, face heavy utilization by humans, mainly for agriculture, industry, and municipal needs, leading to an annual freshwater consumption of 32,928 km³. Agriculture is responsible for approximately 70% of this consumption, highlighting the critical need to enhance water-use efficiency in the face of escalating scarcity and the projected requirement for a 15% increase in freshwater withdrawals, necessary to support a 50% growth in agricultural production by 2050. Soil health plays a pivotal role in sustainable agriculture, influencing plant production, water quality, and nutrient recycling. In this context, precision agriculture, particularly sensor-based approaches like LoRaWAN, emerges as a key solution with its low power usage, long-range capabilities, and cost-effectiveness. However, their adoption is limited in small to medium-scale farms, primarily in regions lacking mechanized farming, due to high initial investments and extended return periods. Challenges include the cost of new technology adoption, training, and the high expense of purchasing and maintaining advanced hardware.
This thesis focuses on making precision agriculture more accessible to smaller farms by exploring affordable hardware alternatives based on LoRaWAN technologies. This involves establishing a LoRaWAN test station at Hochschule Hof to test both affordable and expensive sensors variants in agricultural-like conditions for generating valuable data. The objective is to assess the practicality of using more economical sensor variants against their expensive counterparts and to develop a method for a data-driven comparative analysis of these sensors' performance in agricultural applications.
The conclusion of the thesis reveals that the LoRaWAN test station at Hochschule Hof successfully tested both affordable and expensive sensor variants. The affordable sensors effectively measured parameters like air temperature, humidity, and light intensity, but were less precise for scientific research in aspects like wind direction. Notable deviations in some weather and soil profile measurements indicate the necessity of additional studies. The research also evaluated the independent system set up at the university, noting its effectiveness and economic benefits compared to the Decentlab platform, albeit lacking in data visualization. Ultimately, the feasibility of replacing expensive sensors with affordable variants in precision agriculture was explored, with detailed findings and recommendations presented.