12 November 2025

Prof. Dr Uta Breuer and Prof. Dr Elmar Hinz are the first researchers from Nordhausen University of Applied Sciences to be awarded the Thuringian Research Prize 2025 in the Applied Research category. The award recognises the „CarboMass“ project, which they implemented in the region from 2021 to 2024 with funding from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. The project investigated whether municipal sewage sludge can be used to cover potash dumps after a pyrolysis process and mixing with biomass.

Christian Tischner, Thuringian Minister for Education, Science and Culture, presented the Thuringian Research Prize, which has been awarded since 1995, to the two professors and their teams on Tuesday evening in the book cube of the Klassik Stiftung Weimnar, thus honouring their exceptional commitment to applied research. As with the other prizewinners, the „CarboMass“ project successfully combines traditional research expertise with future development opportunities. Jury member Prof. Dr.-Ing Dieter Brüggemann from the University of Bayreuth emphasised the outstanding and goal-oriented development of an innovative solution proposal for the systemic challenges of the circular economy. The President of Nordhausen University of Applied Sciences, Prof. Dr Jörg Wagner, is delighted with the winners and praises the interdisciplinary collaboration.

The research team of Dr Anja Schreiber, Lars Behling, Marvin Calderon, Petra Hauschild, Katharina Grzeschniok, Victoria Klages, Jantje Samtleben and Sarah-Rebecca Vollmann know that the 2017 amendment to the Waste Sewage Sludge Ordinance will mean that most municipal sewage sludge may no longer be recycled on soil from 2032. In addition, a phosphorus recovery obligation will be introduced from 2029 - two changes that will present wastewater disposal companies with the task of finding alternative utilisation methods for their sewage sludge.

At the same time, stockpile operators are obliged to cover their stockpiles in order to protect our groundwater from unwanted ingress of saline seepage water. The „CarboMass“ network has combined these challenges with the goal of a regional circular economy and shown that local reuse of sewage sludge and biomass with optimised CO2 balancing is feasible in principle. Following laboratory-scale trials, pilot operations were started at a wastewater association in the region and planting trials were carried out on potash heaps. Together with the industrial and municipal project partners, it was shown that after the application of the soil substitute „CarboMass“, overgrown stockpile areas are created in which the limit values of the Stockpile Directive for toxic substances can be complied with after only a short vegetation period and closed plant cover.

The use of the pyrolysis process, which „burns“ pre-dried and pelletised sewage sludge without the addition of oxygen, produces carbonate, in which the valuable phosphorus is bound, among other things. This means that it is still available for plants. Mixing the carbonisate with biomass produces „CarboMass“. This innovative mixture serves as a cover material for the potash dump, supports its recultivation through greening and potentially reduces leachate discharge into the groundwater. The impact assessment carried out when the law was amended predicts that significant increases in wastewater charges are to be expected as a result of the disposal in mono-incineration plants that is usually the aim.

However, in order for the innovative approach to be utilised throughout Germany, adjustments need to be made in the area of sewage sludge regulation. In fact, the project shows through regional comparisons and cross-state analyses that the control instruments used to date for the circular economy and the lack of use of experimentation clauses have an inhibiting effect on innovation in certain cases.

Uta Breuer is pleased that „CarboMass“ was a project in which engineers and administrative scientists were able to work together. This was the only way to focus on the economic and regulatory consequences for the federal, state and local governments as well as the effects of the technical solution for the affected companies and citizens. Elmar Hinz hopes that the „CarboMass“ project, which was also intensively supported by the funding organisation, will further intensify the exchange between policy development and its practical implementation. The prize is endowed with 12,500 euros and the researchers intend to use the prize money for the further work of their team.

In addition to the „CarboMass“ project, two other research networks were honoured this year. A consortium from the Friedich Schiller University Jena / University Hospital also received an award in the Applied Research category. The research team from the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry Jena was also honoured in the Basic Research category.