Building-integrated water reuse in combination with urban farming

Building-integrated water recycling is aimed at saving water in office buildings and housing complexes by separate collections and afterwards biological treatment of the various waste water streams. Moreover, the combination with aquaponics and hydroponics allows for the production of fresh food, namely vegetables and fish, whereby water for irrigation purposes as well as transport costs for vegetables will be saved. The presented research work comprises two stages: (1) the development and implementation of combined water treatment systems at laboratory scale particularly for black water treatment, and (2) field tests at a representative huge housing complex. As result of the first research phase a liquid fertilizer could be produced by means of a combined process concluding a hydrolysis step, sedimentation, followed by microfiltration. The intended relation of the nutrients was nearly achieved.