Internship: Energy neutral wastewater treatment plants

Internship: Energy neutral wastewater treatment plants

Transforming waste into power: The future of energy neutral wastewater treatment plants

In the future, municipal wastewater treatment plants should become energy and carbon neutral. To meet this requirement, a process is required in which most of the organic pollution is converted into energy, instead of being oxidized and lost to the air. This

can be achieved by using a digestor producing energy, instead of an aerobic bioreactor oxidizing COD. This digester should be operated with a concentrated feed and therefore, the wastewater treatment plant of the future will start with the concentration or harvesting of COD for the digester. Two promising processes have been identified for this concentration step.

Your goal

The goal of this project is to compare a high loaded bioreactor to a fine sieve and find the best solution for concentrating COD. Parameters to take into account for this comparison are the removal efficiency, costs, floc stability, biogas production and carbon footprint.

What will you be doing? We have listed it for you:

• Performing laboratory experiments.
• Making a comparison based on your experimental results, previous pilot results and theoretical calculations.
• Giving an advice based on your final evaluation.

Internship available from November 2024 onwards. 

Who are you?

• BSc or MSc Chemical, (Bio)Process, Civil or Environmental Engineering.
• Flexibility and indepence.
• Curious and analytical.
• Professional command of the English language in words and writing. Command of the Dutch language is desirable, but not required.
• Minimum 4 months internship.

Working for us means

• An internship allowance of €350,- per month based on full-time employment.
• Possibility of a contract after your graduation.
• A buddy who will show you around in our organization.
• Reimbursement of travel expenses of €0.23 cents per km up to a maximum of 75 km if you live further than 10 km from our office and do not have an Ov-card.
• Learn from knowledgeable and dedicated people.
• Create impact and contribute to critical water challenges.
• Become part of an inclusive and collaborative culture.
• Contribute to sustainability.

As an intern from the Technology & Innovation department, you will take on challenging and important projects along with Process Design Engineers and R&D engineers. You will run a project with your supervisor and a larger team located in Doetinchem and/or other locations (if applicable).