Frank Rögener

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Frank Rögener studied chemical engineering at the Technical University of Clausthal and graduated in 1994 as an engineer.

Then, he worked as a research assistant at the Society for Environmentally Compatible Process Technology (upt) in Saarbrücken. In 2000 he obtained his doctorate from the University of Saarland with a thesis on water reclamation in the food industry.

From 2000-2003 he was project manager at Pall SeitzSchenk Filter Systems in Waldstetten, where he dealt with the procedural development of filtration equipment.

In 2003, he became group leader and later Deputy Head of Department in the VDEh-Betriebsforschungsinstitut GmbH (BFI) in Düsseldorf, a research and development partner to the process industry, especially the steel industry. Main topics of his work were the chemical treatment of surfaces, as well as the regeneration of operational media.

In 2014, he was appointed Professor of Fluid Process Technology at TH Köln. His teaching and research activities focus on thermal process technology, including membrane technology and wastewater treatment.

Prof. Rögener is also lecturer at TU Dresden and at Peter the Great Saint-Petersburg Polytechnic University. He is a member of VDI and DGMT.

Greenhouse gas emissions have an increasing impact on water cycles. This interconnection is referred to as carbon-water nexus (CWN). Especially, changing precipitation patterns, decreasing freshwater availability, rising sea level, and rising frequency of extreme weather events threaten the social structure, the infrastructure and the environment in many countries.

Environmental engineers can help to combat this negative development by e.g. implementing sophisticated water treatment technologies for water reclamation from industrial, commercial, and residential sources. However, the engineers have to overcome new challenges. In comparison to surface water or groundwater, these unconventional water sources show a more complex composition and a higher concentration of potentially hazardous substances. This gives rise to additional technical efforts and causes additional costs. Furthermore, when exploiting these unconventional sources, psychological defense of the customers as well as increasing health concerns due to prevalence of pathogens have to be addressed.

This keynote lecture aims at introducing technical and non-technical aspects of water reclamation technologies.