Karl Imhoff
Karl Imhoff ( born April 7, 1876 in Mannheim, † September 28, 1965 ) was a German civil engineer and a pioneer of sewage technique he coined decades.
Life and work
Karl Imhoff was the driving force behind the development of the technical apparatus invented in England methods for waste water treatment ( trickling filter and the activated sludge process ). He is not only due to significant technical innovations, but also design rules derived from experience in the operation of wastewater treatment plants and from 1906 he held in his Handbook of Urban Drainage, which always appears as a new edition to this day. In its 100 - year history, the book has been translated 40 times. It has appeared in a total of 20 languages.
From 1906 Imhoff worked for Emschergenossenschaft as head of the wastewater Office. In 1907 he developed there the Emscher fountain with an anaerobic sludge treatment, internationally known as Imhoff tank. During his time at the Emschergenossenschaft he authored an opinion under the title The pollution of the Ruhr, which was the basis for the Ruhr Pollution Control Act.
1922 Imhoff was managing director of the Ruhr Association. Under his leadership, five Ruhr dams were planned. Imhoff lived in that time, a 1928 unfinished house in Essen Moltkeviertel in the Robert -Schmidt-Straße, designed by architect Alfred Fischer according to the principles of modern architecture. 1934 Imhoff was deposed by the Nazis as managing director of the Ruhr Association. On 10 May 1948, founded on his own and at the initiative of the Director of the Ruhr Association, Max Prüss that Abwassertechnische Association ( ATV) in Dusseldorf. Imhoff was then in Germany, the most significant capacity for waste water engineering.
Honors
Imhoff was honorary doctorates from the Technical Universities of Karlsruhe, Stuttgart and Aachen. He received in 1953 the Great Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany and in 1959 the " Bunsen Pettenkofer honor roll ". This is awarded by the DVGW to persons who have rendered outstanding services to the promotion of water and waste water management in a scientific or practical way. The award was instituted on June 12, 1900 in Mainz, Germany.
The 10,000 euro Karl Imhoff prize was donated to the recognition of the great merits Karl Imhoff to the German Waste Water Management and lasting memory of his work. He is by the DWA - awarded German Association for Water, Wastewater and Waste, for the Promotion of scientific work in the field of waste water system for outstanding research, thesis or examination papers.
In the wastewater industry is known Imhoff tank, which are used for treatment of waste water, and the Imhoff glass for the determination of settleable solids.
In Hannover, Langenhagen, Mannheim, Schleswig and Straubing streets were named after him.
Writings (selection )
- Handbook of urban drainage. R. Oldenbourg Verlag, Munich 1906. 30th edition ( the 100th anniversary of the first edition ), Oldenbourg industry publishing house, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-8356-3094-6.
- English edition: Karl Imhoff 's Handbook of Urban Drainage and Wastewater Disposal. Wiley, New York, 1989, ISBN 0-471-81037-1.