The device prevents harmful substances from being discharged into the sewer
Berlin – The Audi Environmental Foundation and the Technical University of Berlin have developed filters for urban runoff to prevent tire wear particles and other environmentally harmful substances from being washed away in the sewers.
The system “traps” dirt particles as close as possible to where they are generated – before rainwater can flush them down the drain, Audi said in a March 22 statement.
The project was launched in September 2020 and initial field and lab tests have now demonstrated the effectiveness of the system, the statement added.
The Urbanfilter, Audi said, was deployed more than a month ago on a busy Berlin road and “mastered” its first stress test during a series of storms in mid-February.
According to the company, around 110,000 tonnes of tire particles are produced in Germany every year, due to daily car use.
From there, the particles are blown into the environment by wind or washed by rain as urban runoff through sewers into the ground and rivers.
“Our goal is to take preventive measures wherever possible so that fewer microplastics enter the environment,” said Ruediger Recknagel, director of the Audi Environmental Foundation.
However, filtering out “ultrafine particles” still poses challenges for the research team.
“The system has already passed tests with soil tire rubber between 20 and 1,000 micrometers (µm) in size under light to medium precipitation conditions,” said Daniel Venghaus, research associate at the Department of urban water management of TU Berlin.
Now the team is working on improving the performance of the filter in heavy rainfall.
The filter currently deployed in Berlin will remain in place for a year for further field studies and study of the behavior of real tire wear particles.
