AFO presents future technologies at the 2009 Ecogerma fair

AFO presented selected research projects at the first German-Brazilian fair on sustainable technologies, held in São Paulo in March. The joint research project pursued by WWU’s Geological and Palaeontological Institute and the Klostermann company from nearby Coesfeld in the field of hydrogeology developed a paving stone permeable to water which retains contaminants such as heavy metals and hydrocarbons. Dr. Daniel Klein, a researcher at WWU’s International Institute of Wood and Forestry/North Rhine-Westphalia presented opportunities for SMEs to profit from carbon emissions trading. Sustainable rubber extraction from dandelions was also presented, by Dr. Christian Schulze-Gronover and Prof. Dirk Prüfer, as was hydrogen production from green algae by Prof. Michael Hippler (both projects: Institute of Biochemistry and Biotechnology of Plants); last but not least, fuel cell research was also presented by Prof. Mario Ohlberger from the Institute of Computational and Applied Mathematics.

Evaporation Research Project – an example of regional economic cooperation

One of the projects that were presented at the stand of the German Ministry of Education and Research, on behalf of AFO, were the research project Evaporation. Since November 2007 the Institute for Applied Geology and the Heinrich Klostermann Betonwerke company from the local town of Coesfeld have been working together on this DBU (German Environment Foundation)-funded project: a water-permeable paving stone, developed by Klostermann in 2006 and already in use nationwide for purifying rainwater and managing harmful substances such as heavy metals and hydrocarbons. The cooperation project led to improvements in the paving stone. By changing the grain size, composition and colour of the stone, as well as the underlying gravel materials, the water retained in the stone can evaporate more effectively. This improvement enhances the city climate and eases the burden on the sewage system. In the Brazilian state of Santa Catarina, a high-precipitation area which has recently been hit by floods, such innovations have hardly been introduced so far.