Environmental Engineering
Environmental Engineering
#RDI
#Business
Revolutionising Water Safety
Advanced expertise in Water Safety research, innovation and development
The Environmental Engineering department at Savonia University of Applied Sciences has +20 years of experience in Water Safety, with specialisations in Smart Water Technology, Zero Emission Industry, and Aqua Resilience.
With our specialised facilities and expertise in water purification and monitoring systems, we provide practical testing and piloting services to support companies during product testing and development.
We coordinate Kuopio Water Cluster (KWC), a network of +70 leading water-related organisations in research, development and innovation from Finland and abroad. KWC offers product development, testing and commercialisation services for cluster members and external customers.
We support all levels of innovation – from idea to commercial readiness.
With our unique facilities, lab- and pilot-scale development can be scaled up to demonstration and full-scale testing.
Chemical and analytical labs, fully equipped workshop, and expert consultation
Access to a physical water network model for scenario-based experiments and testing
Mobile labs to test and develop processes for water treatment and recovery on-site
Industrial and long-term testing in a real environment with water infrastructure
Facilities and Equipment
Our unique facilities combine experimental and modelling methods to develop products and services.
WaterLAB offers a fully furnished space with specialised equipment, skilled experts, and services up to TRL 4.
With over 300 m2 of laboratory space, WaterLAB includes a chemical lab, workshop, and rentable open area and private booths.
Chemical and Analytical Labs
We perform basic chemical and biological analyses in addition to bench-scale experiments. Our equipment allows for low-level detection of elements and ions in liquids as well as volatile compounds. Get fast and reliable analysis results.
RDI and Projects
We offer companies, organisations, RDI institutions, and academia partners product development, testing and piloting services. We plan and coordinate applied-research projects and can help obtain national and international funding.
Pilot-building Workshop
We can build most test/pilot setups, make customisations, and perform maintenance on-site. Our workshop is a dedicated space with all necessary equipment, tools and machinery for a range of materials (such as plastic, wood, metal and electronics).
Experts and personnel
WaterLAB’s extensive experts include top researchers, laboratory technicians, and lab and field engineers. You can also gain access to bright-minded students for project work and theses.
WaterLOOP is a Distribution System Simulator, offering a complete physical water network in a sandboxed environment. It can be used for scenario-based testing for microbiological, chemical, and other contaminants. Both hardware and software systems can be integrated and monitored online in real-time. All scenarios and demonstrations outside the lab are scalable to SuperDMA.
Piping infrastructure and specs
- close to 1 km (total) of copper and PE pipework (looped-branched network)
- water intake
- water tank (6.8 m3)
- first and second stage pumping stations and dual wastewater system for added flexibility in terms of contaminants used
- flow rate up to 10 m3/h
- flow velocity up to 4 m/s
- operating pressure up to 10 bar
Remote access and monitoring
- secure data gathering and storage
- real-time online monitoring
- online physico-chemical monitoring
- online hydraulic parameters monitoring
- +50 online parameters
- custom parameters monitoring on demand
Customisations
- controlled water temperature
- open or close loop operation mode
- flexible flow routing and customisation
- fully sandboxed environment
- scenario-based experiments
- additional hardware and software according to your specifications
Test and develop processes for water treatment and recovery with modular and mobile systems. Piloting facilities are portable units, easily transported to one or multiple test sites in a sea cargo container for temporary or long-term use.
MBBR pilot
Microbiological water treatment and resource recovery experiments
Water treatment pilot
Physical-chemical water treatment experiments
Industrial recovery pilot
Physical-chemical water treatment experiments of industrial waters
Advanced separation pilot
Separation and recovery experiments based on combination of filtration technologies
Sulphate pilot
Energy efficient biological sulphate removal and selective metal recovery
SuperDMA demonstrator in the full-scale District Metering Area includes water, wastewater and storm water underground infrastructures. The demonstrator for smart water technologies allows for rapid scale-up from laboratory-scale (WaterLAB and WaterLOOP) and pilot-scale. Long-term product testing and demonstrations in real locations are also possible.
- 1.5 x 1.5 km area surrounding the WaterLAB premises in Savilahti Innovation Campus (district of Kuopio city, Pohjois-Savo region of Finland)
- integrated with the water distribution system operated by the local waterworks (Kuopion Vesi)
- full-scale representative District Metering Area (e.g. area, number of water consumers, consumers profile, terrain variability)
- SuperDMA and WaterLOOP are within range of NB-IoT (LTE B31 450 MHz) and mmW 5G NR private test network, ensuring fast and secure data gathering
Projects (Applied Research)
Ongoing
ReNutriWater
The ReNutriWater Project is Funded by Interreg Baltic Sea Region Programme and co-funded by European Union.
ReNutriWater project answers to the challenges specified in the Programme objective Water-smart societies, priority 2.1. Sustainable waters.
The Programme supports actions that improve the state of water in the region and make its management more sustainable.
These waters include the Baltic Sea, coastal waters and inland waters like rivers, lakes and groundwater.
AMBITIOUS – Advanced Computing Continuum Solutions for Boosting Digitallization across European Regions
AMBITIOUS stands for Advanced CoMputing Continuum Solutions for Boosting DigITalization acrOss EUropean RegionS.
This EU funded project aims to find innovative digital solutions for climate change related environmental issues, urbanisation, energy production and occupational safety.
From Savonias point of view the challenges we will focus on are urban floods, storm water infrastucture updates, leakages in the pipelines, energy and water needs and how to predict and model all of the before mentioned using AI, 5G and IoT.
IERTO – Nutrient re-uptake from landfill wastewater
KIERTO – “Jätekeskuksen vesien ravinteiden talteenoton paikallinen symbioosi”
05/2023-12/2024
This project is aimed to increase the efficiency of closed water circulation on a land fill in Kuopio, Finland. The project is carried out by Savonia, Jätekukko (the local waste management company) and technological equipment providers.
The project focuses on nutrient re-uptake, especially nitrogen compounds and uses technologies such as MBBR (Moving bed bioreactor) and Electrocoagulation to test this process.
KIERTO- project is funded by Finland’s Ministry of the Environment.
Completed
Smart Water 2.0.
Smart Water 2.0. project ran through 05/2021 – 08/2023 and concentrated on raising the technological level of water intensive industries, in co-operation with related companies and organizations. This project also improved the technological level of Savonias own WaterLAB facilities with new online-measurement devices for WaterLOOP and sensor devices for the SuperDMA (district monitoring) area.
SWIM – Smart Water Management
SWIM- project ran through 04/2021 – 12/2023 and aimed to help companies and municipalities ready up their facilities, infrastructure and devices for future changes in extreme weather events due to climate change, tighter directives from EU and elevated customer expectations. Project was funded by Business Finland.
YTY – Innovatiiviset yhdistelmäkäsittelyteknologiat typen poiston tehostamiseksi kylmissä jätevesissä
YTY – Innovative combination processes technologies to enhance the extraction of Nitrogen from cold wastewaters.
YTY- projects duration was 08/2022 – 12/2023. During the project MBBR (moving bed bioreactor)-technology combined with nanofiltration was used to reduce nitrogen in wastewaters from a landfill in Kuopio. The project was funded by the Environmental Ministry of Finland.