ATB Umwelttechnologien GmbH
Südstraße 2, , D-32457 Porta Westfalica, Germany

15 years ago three members of the small firm »Abwassertechnik Baumann« (Baumann Wastewater Engineering), all of them members of the Baumann family, were deliberating how they could make the lives of installation partners and of the operators of small wastewater treatment plants easier – both economically and technically. Rapidly, the idea of developing a sewage treatment plant, which can be installed without great expenditure as retrofit unit both in old and also new multichamber pits, was born. And: the cost/performance ratio had to be more than fair.

With the help of familar specialists and engineers as well as with some borrowed money Markus Baumann and his father, Dipl.-Ing. Dagobert Baumann, developed the concept for a new generation of wastewater treatment plants. The basis for this was provided by a technology, which had already achieved outstanding results in large scale wastewater treatment operation and which was able to balance out heavy variations in loading: the SBR process. 

The first prototype was created in the cellar…
Based on this, the first prototype of the new sewage treatment plant was created in the cellar of the Baumann family house. The first units were assembled and tested in the garden pond, rebuilt and tested… and one day, after many long nights and weekends in the cellar, the AQUAmax® was finally finished. Now it was possible to retrofit antiquated wastewater treatment plants with a modern system without extensive excavation work and to install new wastewater treatment plants without great expenditure. 

Pioneer work…
As the SBR technology, which was used in the AQUAmax® plant, was not yet described in any valid DIN standard specification, the Baumann's in collaboration with the RWTH (Rhine-Westphalian Technical University) in Aachen, had to do pioneer work. The AQUAmax® has been tested thoroughly until it was finally granted: The German “National General Technical Approval” No. Z-55.3-53 in accordance with DIN 4261. The way towards one of the most fascinating success stories in the branch was thus free.