Published on:
5 days, more than 350 submitted papers, more than 67 presentations, more than 400 water experts from all over the world – the 19th Leading Edge Conference on Water and Wastewater Technologies (LET) offered WTE the opportunity to present itself to an international audience of experts, and this in Essen, the hometown of WTE Wassertechnik! With a welcome speech delivered on a large stage, two well-attended workshops and an award for our poster presentation, we can reflect on the week with a high level of satisfaction.
We were particularly delighted that we were able to support this important specialist event as a platinum sponsor and play an active role in organising several workshops and presentations.
The event was kicked off by Dr Leon Steuernagel, Head of Business Division Tendering, who gave the welcoming speech on behalf of WTE. Among other things, he presented our major wastewater treatment project Umm Al Hayman. After the film, showing the construction of the plant with its impressive dimensions, machines and aggregates, the audience spontaneously burst into applause – a wonderful recognition of our project.
Our employees Jürgen Heinrichmeier, Tom Siegel and Martin Risse conducted two interactive workshops together with further renowned parties from the water industry: ‘Water reuse: from technical innovation to validation and implementation’ and ‘Digital operation and digital twins in water and wastewater technologies: case studies and future developments’. Here, both scientific findings and practical experience from wastewater treatment and plant operation were presented and discussed. Important topics included the implementation of our wastewater treatment plant in Kuwait and the possible applications of artificial intelligence for optimised operational control.
Both workshops raised a great deal of interest among the conference visitors, were extremely well attended with more than 50 participants from a wide range of professional backgrounds and facilitated lively discussions.
On the following days of the conference, WTE also contributed valuable impulses for water management – with two poster presentations on the topics of ‘Modelling denitrification in a pilot-scale biofiltration reactor treating nitrate-enriched groundwater’ and ‘A simple bioelectrochemical system for ammonia recovery from municipal wastewater or anaerobic sludge liquid’.
Particularly gratifying: the WTE team’s poster on the highly topical subject of nitrate removal in drinking water treatment was awarded the poster prize. A great recognition of the team’s valuable development work and a nice accolade for our employee Cornelius Kappelhoff, who presented the poster at the LET.
The five days of the conference were characterised by exciting keynotes on innovations in water and wastewater management, interactive workshops, poster sessions on scientific research results and plenty of opportunities for exchange.
In conclusion, it can be said: The IWA LET 2024, which was jointly organised by the Ruhrverband, Emschergenossenschaft/Lippeverband and GELSENWASSER, can be considered a complete success overall and a successful home match for WTE.
A big thank you to the organisers, participants and partners, as well as to all WTE employees involved for their great commitment, the top-class specialist contributions, the media preparation and the professional presentation of our company at the conference.