International exchange - Italian student visiting Pirna

The Master student Giulia Trevisan is visiting for a research stay at the Institute of Waste Management and Circular Economy. The committed young scientist is studying environmental technology at the University of Padua.  In the course of her bachelor thesis, in which she dealt with ecotoxicity, she was able to familiarize herself with practical activities in the laboratory.

Within the scope of her master thesis, the topic of biochemical conversion will now be considered. For this purpose, fixed bed reactors will be investigated and their advantages and disadvantages presented. On a laboratory scale, various growth carriers and their effect on the performance of biogas reactors will be investigated. Research questions to be answered during the project are thus:

- How is the biofilm growth influenced by the growth media, especially by the specific surface and its dimension?

- Comparison of efficiency, i.e. biogas production, between the different types of growth carriers