Who they are
KU Leuven is a catholic university with its main campus based in the Belgium city of Leuven. With other campuses throughout the country, it is the largest university of Belgium. KU Leuven puts emphasizes innovative research and promotes researchers and students to gain new insights to tackle modern challenges.
Who represents KU Leuven in PREWAPHARM
The PREWAPHARM activities are embedded within the CREaS research group (Chemical and Biochemical Reactor Engineering and Safety). They are represented by Prof. Dr. Raf Dewil, Dr. Mohammadreza Kamali and Nico Lambert.
CREaS brings together expertise in reactor engineering, hybrid (bio)chemical processes, advanced oxidation technologies, and process optimisation, with a strong emphasis on safety, robustness, and scalability.
Their role in PREWAPHARM
KU Leuven is co-designing, implementing, and evaluating pilot-scale wastewater treatment systems in Luxembourg and Flanders. They’re shaping a hybrid system that combines biological and advanced oxidation processes to remove medicine efficiently and thoroughly from wastewater.
By combining multiple stages of filtration within the hybrid system, KU Leuven aims to demonstrate that the whole is more than the sum of its parts. This approach delivers performance gains beyond a simple ‘1 + 1 = 2’.
Why this topic matters
Pharmaceutical residues in water are a growing environmental concern. Currently, these residues are often insufficiently removed by conventional wastewater treatment systems. This may pose risks to ecosystems and human health.
Looking ahead
By creating a hybrid wastewater treatment system, we gain an understanding how different technologies can be implemented to remove medicine residues effectively, under realistic operating conditions.
The cross-border collaboration within PREWAPHARM also allows to asses the broader environmental picture, including linking ecotoxicological effects to the possible formation of by-products during chemical oxidation processes.
Photo credits: KU Leuven