Thesis and final projects
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We supervise and conduct theoretical and experimental project, bachelor and master theses. The topics range from the application of systems analysis techniques to analyze and evaluate system performance to experimental studies on a technical scale or laboratory scale. The latter work can be carried out at our technical center on the site of waste incineration plant in Kassel and in our laboratory in the building Mönchebergstraße 7.
Please note
Guidelines for thesis and project reports: Leitfaden (in german)
A selection of topics can be found on this page. For further tasks or if you are already interested in a specific topic, please contact the staff at the department. Our team
Selection of topics for master, bachelor or project theses
Master thesis - Proposed topic
Problem and objective:
Grate ash from municipal solid waste incineration (HMVA) represents the largest solid residue from waste incineration in terms of volume. After appropriate processing, the mineral fraction of HMV ash can be used as a building material. As part of the HMV eco-concrete research project(https://www.dbu.de/projekt_36064/01_db_2848.html), processed HMVA is used to partially replace aggregates and binders in concrete. This conserves natural raw materials and reduces CO2 emissions associated with concrete production. However, HMV ash contains salts and heavy metals that, although largely immobilized in concrete during use, could be released after the end of use as part of a potential second life cycle as a replacement building material. Therefore, there is a need to investigate the release of pollutants from HMV ash concrete quarry in order to evaluate possible longer-term environmental hazards and to exclude them by appropriate measures.
The objective of this Master's thesis is to investigate the elution behavior of selected salts and heavy metals by means of column experiments and to draw conclusions on the longer-term pollutant release potential.
Approach and Methods:
The experimental work will be carried out in the pilot plant and laboratory of the Department of Resource Management and Waste Engineering and will also be supervised by the Department of Hydrogeology (Prof. Mellage). The HMVA concrete specimens as well as conventional concrete specimens (as a reference) are provided and are to be crushed to suitable grain sizes in the first step using a jaw crusher. The materials produced are characterized with regard to particle size distribution, selected element contents in the solids and porosity. Subsequently, column tests (at least 2 tests per concrete sample) are to be carried out with the produced materials under water-saturated conditions according to DIN 19528. During the tests, relevant percolate parameters (based on the limit values of the Substitute Building Materials Ordinance) are determined at regular intervals (continuously: pH, electrical conductivity and by external analyses for specific water-solid ratios: Cl, SO4, As, Cu, Cd, etc.). The tests shall be run at least up to a water-solid ratio of 10 L/kg to allow comparison with eluate concentrations (carried out as part of the HMV-Öko-Beton research project) from shaking tests at W/F = 2 L/kg and W/F = 10 L/kg. The experiments are to be evaluated with regard to pollutant release dynamics and discussed against the background of provided data from the HMV-Öko-Beton project as well as relevant literature.
The master thesis is jointly supervised at the Department of Resource Management and Waste Engineering and the Department of Hydrogeology.
PDF document
If you are interested, please contact: Prof. Dr. David Laner