VLB In-house: The Department for Water Quality, Management and Technology (WMT) offers all-round service for water

 VLB IN-HOUSE

The Department for Water Quality, Management and Technology (WMT) offers all-round service for water

In 2015, the Department for Water Quality, Management and Technology (WMT) was integrated into the new VLB Research Institute for Biotechnology and Water (FIBW), which has been under the direction of Dr. Martin Senz since November 2020. Five staff take water samples, quantify, conduct analysis, advise, research, and do much more besides. The tasks are manifold – after all, “Water is much more than just H2O,” as Dr. Alfons Ahrens and Stefan Reimann will tell in this interview. The Head of the Department and the Laboratory Manager explain why the water division needs to be strengthened further, and what makes it an indispensable component of the services VLB offers.

 What are the core tasks of the

Water Quality, Management and Technology Department?

Ahrens: Our day-to-day work focuses on the analysis of drinking water, process water and wastewater, and also on operational consulting and research. In addition to this, some staff members are active in teaching and on various industry committees.

 What are the focal points for

your contract analysis?

Ahrens: One of our focal points is chemical-physical drinking water testing in accordance with the German Drinking Water Ordinance (officially named TrinkwV) based on the European Drinking Water Directive 98/83/EC. This involves testing the water for nitrate and heavy metal contamination, for example. In addition to this, we also conduct brewing and process water analyses for the beverage industry. On top of that, we are responsible for chemical-physical and sensory testing within the framework of the German Agricultural Society’s quality test for mineral, spring and table water. For this test, I act as an authorized German Agricultural Society (DLG) testing agent.

Reimann: Drinking water is the raw material that serves as the basis for beverage production. Water-related technological issues are also important in this context. How does the water quality affect the final product? How does it impact the manufacturing process? Generally speaking, what we’re really looking at here is usually the ion composition and the ingredients. Water is much more than just H2O. On a global scale, water is the universal solvent. Geographical, geological and climate conditions – and anthropogenic factors as well – all influence the composition of the constituents, and consequently the quality of any water at the point of abstraction. Is it surface water or groundwater? Was the water already treated to be of drinking water quality? All of this makes a difference. And our focus covers all of it: we analyze and quantify the water and present our assessment and recommendation to the brewing and beverage industry. This tells them whether it is suitable for the intended application and, if not, how it needs to be treated before it can be used.

 The WMT also conducts inhibi-

tion and degradation tests – what is the aim of these tests?

Ahrens: Inhibition tests are designed to simulate biological sewage treatment plants – in small vessels in a laboratory setting. We add substances that could cause problems in biological wastewater treatment during operation. These are often substances from the cleaning and disinfectant sector, or glues for labels. Within the scope of the inhibition tests, we determine whether small-scale inhibition is present and, accordingly, whether the operating materials could be dangerous for the biological sewage treatment plant. Degradability tests are concerned with biodegradability. There are some substances which are still difficult to degrade, even though they’re not inhibitory. The two issues are usually inseparable. The results of these tests can be valuable decision-making aids for plants that are looking to change their operating materials, which is usually an economically motivated decision.

 Around two years ago, VLB

Berlin’s sampling and analysis of service water from evaporative cooling systems, cooling towers and wet separators were successfully accredited in accordance with the 42nd German Federal Immission Control Ordinance (officially named 42. BImSchV) and VDI 2047 (Directive published by the Association of German Engineers). What does this service mean for VLB’s customers?

Reimann: Drinking water and wastewater are subject to strict legal regulations, and the sampling and analysis of them go hand in hand. This means that everything we process as part of the legally regulated contract analysis, be it drinking water or wastewater, ser-

Photos: ew

vice water from evaporative cooling systems or wet separators, needs to be sampled in accordance with the relevant certification. This is the key difference between this service and other areas of VLB’s accredited laboratory work. Here at WMT, the samples we analyze in accordance with the legal requirements need to be taken by ourselves. With the accreditation for the sampling and analysis of service water from evaporative cooling systems, cooling towers and wet separators, WMT and BEAM have further expanded their range of services in the field of water analysis. Our customers can have the entire spectrum of the water they produce analyzed with regard to specific issues.

Ahrens: Whenever we make a report in accordance with the German Drinking Water Ordinance or the 42nd German Federal Immission Control Ordinance, we need to use samples we have taken ourselves. But when a brewery from abroad sends us samples with a drinking water reference, for example, we prepare an “unofficial” test report – a VLB analysis report based solely on our WMT expertise.

 Which standards and regula-

tions is the WMT laboratory accredited by?

Ahrens: Our lab is accredited in accordance with DIN EN ISO/IEC 17015:2018. In the field of drinking water sampling and analysis, we are an approved drinking water testing laboratory in accordance with Section 15 of the German Drinking Water Ordinance. In the field of sampling and microbiological testing of service water from evaporative cooling systems, Section 3 of the 42nd German Federal Immission Control Ordinance acts as the basis for our accreditation. We are also an approved wastewater investigation body in accordance with Section 6 of the Discharger Ordinance (officially named IndV) for the State of Berlin.

 At the start of our interview, you

mentioned research as one of your fields of activity. What is WMT researching right now? What is the time frame for such a project?

Ahrens: We are currently conducting research and evaluating research results in several projects: Evaluation of the cleaning effect of stacking lye (INNO-KOM_MF), Recycling of wastewater and partial wastewater flows (INNO-KOM_MF), and Ensuring the hygienic status of cooling water in evaporative cooling systems (INNO-KOM_MF). We are also investigating the correlation between COD and TOC values in brewery wastewater on behalf of the German Brewing Industry’s Science Fund (Wissenschaftsförderung der Deutschen Brauwirtschaft e.V. – WiFö).

Reimann: Research projects supported by EuroNorm (INNO-KOM), the AiF or the DBU usually run for two years. The WiFö project ran for one year.

 Do you have any plans for fur-

ther research projects?

Ahrens: Yes, for example we’re planning one on the topic of how climate change is impacting the quality of raw water.  How do your research and

service activities feed into each other?

Ahrens: We can use the results of our research to expand the range of analyses we offer. We also benefit from our research in our consultations, as provides us with new findings that might be relevant to draw on. Research content enriches our lectures and plays a major role in the courses and further training we offer for brewers and distillers, and in the workshops that VLB runs for companies and corporations. We always want our teaching to be up to date with the latest research. In the ion chromatograph the anions in the water is quantified

 Who are WMT’s customers? Ahrens: We have two main groups of customers. On the one hand, we have our private and public-sector customers, such as property management companies, providers of daycare centers, hospitals, companies in the catering industry, and allotment garden associations. On the other hand, of course, we also cater to companies in the beverage industry and their suppliers. As a result, we serve a wide range of customers.

 How many people work in the

WMT department?

Ahrens: A total of five people are employed in the department. We have a lab assistant, a biological, chemical and technical assistant, and an engineer for environmental process engineering who carry out both our sampling and our chemical-physical laboratory analyses for drinking water, wastewater and evaporative cooling systems, and who are also responsible for the implementation of quality assurThe TOC analyzer determines the carbon content in the water

Surface tension measurement in the tensiometer

A normal working day in the water lab: Stefan Reimann prepares water analyses ance measures. Our environmental process engineer is also entrusted with special analyses, such as the measurement of organic carbon (TOC) and ion exchange chromatography (IC), as well as more complex analyses that involve extensive sample preparation. Both he and our biological, chemical and technical assistant are also involved in research projects. I’m in charge of the department as a whole, and Stefan Reimann manages the laboratory. Together, we are responsible for the research conducted in WMT.

 What are your responsibilities,

Mr. Reimann?

Reimann: I’ve got two different hats here: I spend half my time working as a WMT research assistant, which means I am responsible for every aspect of research projects from their launch to the acquisition and the implementation of their content. The rest of my time I spend coordinating the processes in our accredited laboratory. This is something I’ve been doing for around 18 months, and it requires me to work very closely with my colleagues.

 Which industry bodies do WMT

staff sit on?

Ahrens: Stefan Reimann and I are members of VLB’s Technical and Scientific Committee. Stefan Reimann sits on the Technical Committee for Filling, Packaging and Operating Technology, and I sit on the Technical Committee for the Environment, Resource Management and Occupational Safety. I am also a member of the German Brewers’ Association’s Environmental Committee and the technical committee IG-2: Industry-specific Industrial Wastewater and Waste, which belongs to the German Association for Water, Wastewater and Waste (DWA). On IG-2, I am currently involved in a working group for "Water Treatment and Cooling Systems.” I am also Chairman of the DLG Commission for Mineral, Spring and Table Water and, as already mentioned, an authorized DLG testing agent for the annual DLG quality test in this field.

 You also hold a teaching posi-

tion, is that right?

Ahrens: Yes, at the TU Berlin. I give one lecture per semester for students on the Brewing and Beverage Technology and Food Technology (MSc) program. In the summer semester I talk about “Water treatment and waste water treatment,” and in the winter semester the lecture is on “Non-alcoholic beverages.” On top of that, I also teach on several of VLB’s own courses, including the Brewmaster Course in German, the Certified Brewmaster Course in English, and our courses for distillers. Stefan Reimann represents the WMT at more compact VLB events, such as the Craft Brewing in Practice course and our online courses – both those we are currently running and others we have planned for the future. Both of us are also regular speakers at national and international VLB conferences.

 The WMT department was inte-

grated into the new VLB Research Institute for Biotechnology and Water (FIBW) when it was founded almost six years ago, alongside the Bioprocess Engineering and Applied Microbiology (BEAM) department and the Biological Laboratory (BL). Is there any crossover between WMT’s work and that of BEAM and BL?

Ahrens: WMT specializes in the investigation of chemical-physical parameters in water. Apart from the biodegradability and inhibition tests in wastewater we mentioned earlier, BEAM is in charge of all VLB’s accredited microbiological analysis of drinking and mineral waters. BL conducts general microbiological tests in beverages.

 Are there any synergy effects? Ahrens: Absolutely. In contract analysis, the structural merger has made it a lot easier for us to coordinate our workflows. This is also something you can see when it comes to processing our research projects.

Reimann: We had already conducted joint projects in the past, including one sponsored by the AiF. Here at WMT, the main question we were interested in was whether chlorine-based disinfection media have a damaging effect on materials after being mixed to application concentrations using different water qualities, and what requirements can be derived from this for their application. However, the original objective of the application of these media should not be neglected – how the disinfection medium behaves towards selected microorganisms under certain application conditions. BEAM conducted a series of effectiveness

tests in order to investigate this question. Conversely, in another project, BEAM was researching the use of ionized air for the disinfection of cooling water. We handled one work package for this project, which involved us investigating byproduct formation in the water in question. Obviously, there are synergies in the research conducted by the different departments, because each of us uses our joint expertise together to make sure that we answer every question as comprehensively as possible.

 Has the Covid crisis brought

with it new risks for the beverage industry in terms of water and wastewater?

Ahrens: We now know that higher viral loads can be detected early in household wastewater and public sewers, even before a Covid-19 outbreak becomes apparent, for example. As such, this can be used as an early warning system for a possible increase in the number of infections. With this in mind, I imagine an increased viral load could also occur at open wastewater treatment plants in the beverage industry, where the effects of mixing and/or aeration aggregates lead to air contact and spraying of wastewater in a very general sense. Contact with the air means that aerosols containing viruses could form in these situations, and these would be potentially dangerous if inhaled. In terms of occupational safety, this would mean that companies with open wastewater systems should take preventive measures to protect any employees who regularly work on or in the immediate vicinity of such systems.

 What are your hopes for

the future of the WMT department?

Ahrens: I would like to see the water division continue to be valued as an indispensable component of the services VLB offers, and strengthened further.

Eva Wiesgrill

Contact. Department for Water Quality, Management and Technology (WMT) Dr. Alfons Ahrens ahrens@vlb-berlin.org

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