On April 10, 2024, the Thuringian Minister for Environment, Energy and Environmental Affairs Bernhard Stengele visited TITV Greiz. He was particularly interested in the latest developments in the WaterJetClean+ project.
The research team at TITV Greiz is working together with partners from all over Germany on a mobile and flexibly deployable system that will help to remove waste from rivers before it reaches the sea. The developers at TITV are focusing on developing a conveyor belt made from special textiles.
One of the main tasks is to develop robust and environmentally friendly textiles that can filter out waste particles with a volume of at least one cubic centimeter while leaving fish and other creatures in the water unharmed. The latest developments show that textiles in net form are best suited for this application. A water jet generation device will create a curtain of water flow that will direct the waste in a predefined direction to the next module. An energy-cleaning conveyor belt filters the waste from the water and transports it to the shore, while the modules simultaneously generate the required energy from the current. The project started in spring 2023 and will run until summer 2025.
Many thanks to MDR Thüringen for the article: Greiz researchers find technical solution for plastic-free rivers and to Conny Winkler from OTZ for the article: Project declares war on plastic waste: Minister of Environmental Affairs comes to Greiz.
We would like to thank the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy for funding the research project ZIM KOOP NKF (CleanRiverSolutions) 16KN087344 "WaterJetClean+" from the federal budget.
From right to left: Managing Director Dr. Fabian Schreiber, Thuringian Minister for Environment, Energy and Environmental Affairs Bernhard Stengele, project managers Lutz Stöß and Heidi Schaarschmidt inspecting the textile materials
Thuringian Minister for the Environment, Energy and Environmental Affairs Bernhard Stengele (left) with the two project managers Ms. Heidi Schaarschmidt and Mr. Lutz Stöß (right) during the demonstrator deployment on the Weiße Elster river
