[Translate to English:] RUN

Rural-Urban Nutrient Partnerships

Project duration: 04/2019 - 08/2024

Department in charge: rewa

Person in charge:

Florian Rankenhohn M.Sc.

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Heidrun Steinmetz

Funding: RUN is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) as part of the funding measure "Agricultural Systems of the Future" under the German government's "National Research Strategy Bioeconomy 2030".

Poject partner:

University Stuttgart – Institute for Sanitary Engineering, Water Quality and Solid Waste Management (project coordination)
Technical University Kaiserslautern – Department Resource Efficient Wastewater Technologies (stv. Projektkoordination)
University Stuttgart – Institute for Landscape Planning and Ecology
University Hohenheim – Institute for Agricultural Economics
University Hohenheim – Institute for Cultivated Plants
University Hohenheim – Research centre „Global Food Security and Ecosystems“
University Heidelberg – Max-Weber-Institute for Sociology
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology – Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis
Johann Heinrich von Thünen Institute Braunschweig – Institute for Agricultural Technolofy
iat Ingenieurberatung für Abwassertechnik GmbH, Stuttgart
Björnsen Beratende Ingenieure GmbH, Koblenz
Internationale Bauausstellung Heidelberg (Asoziierter Partner)
Granulan GmbH & Co. KG (Assoziierter Partner)

Über das Projekt:

In order to achieve efficient and sustainable use of resources, agriculture is called to find new ways of producing food in a way that conserves resources. The RUN research project aims to close nutrient cycles between urban and rural areas. Not only agricultural production and management methods are being considered, but also a change in the consumption patterns of urban residents and innovative recycling methods for biowaste and sanitary wastewater. The structure of the project is similar to a real laboratory: the scientists want to set up a pilot plant and an experience room in Patrick Henry Village in Heidelberg. There, the new technologies can be tested under authenticity conditions and by participation of stakeholders.

The department of resource-efficient wastewater treatment will initially focus on research on a laboratory scale into process technologies for the production of biopolymers from black water, which are suitable as raw materials for the production of e.g. biodegradable films for agriculture. The knowledge gained will subsequently be incorporated into the construction of the pilot plant on a semi-industrial scale. At the conceptual level, the department is working on logistical issues relating to material flow separation. The aim will be the development of a decision support tool and its application to conversion areas.