22. July 2021

The "REGION.innovativ" funding programme of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research supports regional alliances to dedicate themselves to new research and innovation topics and to collaborate with new partners. The 3-year research project "CarboMass - Regional recycling management for the local reuse of sewage sludge and biomass with optimised CO2 balancing", newly acquired by the HSN, is one of them.

In addition to a technical objective - the raw material and energy recovery of sewage sludge and compost to create a new soil substrate for the recultivation of post-mining landscapes, brownfield sites, landfills and municipal areas - municipal feasibility, optimisation of the circular economy and the necessary knowledge transfer of the results will also play a major role.

A strong regional research alliance consisting of six partners from science, industry and at municipal level has come together to implement the joint project. These are the ThIWert (Thuringian Innovation Centre for Recyclable Materials) and IPMG (Institute for Public Management and Governance) for the Nordhausen University of Applied Sciences and the industrial partners IMM-Industrieabbrüche and Metallrecycling Menteroda GmbH & Co. KG as well as the municipal partners with the district of Nordhausen, the rural municipality of Bleicherode, the Bode-Wipper wastewater association in Bleicherode and the Südharz water association from Saxony-Anhalt.

The idea for the project came from the company Industrieabbrüche und Metallrecycling Menteroda GmbH & Co. Betriebs KG (IMM), which approached the university in response to a practical problem.

At a joint kick-off meeting of the network partners on 21 July 2021, Thuringia's Minister President Ramelow made it clear in his welcoming address, also in view of the current environmental disasters, how enormously important technical progress is in driving forward a resource-saving circular economy and thus not only strengthening the region, but also improving the general environmental situation.