Since 1993 – Water treatment for remediation of uranium contaminated sites
UIT started to develop remediation concepts for uranium mines and treatment plants of the Wismut GmbH in Saxony and Thuringia. In the years 1995 to 2002 UIT plays a key role in the engineering and implementation of projects for Wismut in the fields of automated monitoring within complex networks, water treatment on the basis of HDS technology, uranium recovery from mine flood water and processing, modeling and simulation of both, mine flooding and remediation technologies for process optimization and licensing procedures. Today UIT develops solutions for the proactive remediation of uranium sites for clients world-wide in addition to current consulting and engineering activities for Wismut.

Since 1994 Special Solutions for Disposal Technologies
Within 1994 and 1996 UIT is engaged by ISL Lübben GmbH as prime contractor for the engineering and construction of an incineration plant for demilitarization purposes (elimination of explosives, ammunition, propellants a. o.). At the same time UIT designs, builds and operates a facility for disposal of mercury waste. The experience in handling hazardous materials in general, and water pollutants in particular are still used in consulting and engineering projects in the fields of demilitarization and disposal.

Since 2004 Water Technology for Industry and Mining
UIT develops water technology applications in specific and challenging projects in industry (solar, steel, ceramics a. o.), mining (acid mine drainage, heavy-metal contamination a. o.) and remediation (incl. in-situ technologies). UIT offers complete services – from technology development via all engineering stages including construction management. For the test and optimization of treatment technologies in sophisticated application cases, UIT uses its modular, container-based pilot plant that can be used at the relevant sites in a flexible manner. This results in planning reliability, often in combination with chemical process simulation by using software tools developed by UIT.

Since 2004 Process Simulation
After many years of customized software development for process simulation purposes in mining and industry, UIT starts to develop software tools for chemical process simulation for applications in technology and environment. These include physico-chemical water treatment and purification, specifically reactive transport phenomena in columns, hydrometallurgical separation processes and in situ processes in contaminated areas (pollutant dispersion, treatment technologies, including biological processes). The particular strength of UIT is the ability to develop and to implement customer and application specific software solutions.

Since 2005 Biotechnology – Bioconversion
On the basis of early-days experience in the field of bio-technological laboratory test facilities for environmental research, UIT expands its portfolio regarding engineering and manufacture of facilities and plants. From 2005 to 2007 UIT as prime contractor has realized a turn-key, industrial-scale pilot plant for the production of highly pure lactic acid from biomass in close cooperation with the Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering Potsdam-Bornim. UIT develops and manufactures further bioreactor pilot facilities, in particular automated fermenters for biogas generation, for national and international customers.

Since 2008 Prime Contractor for the Construction of Water Treatment Plants
In addition to the full scope of engineering services in the field of water technology, UIT becomes engaged as prime contractor for the construction of turn-key industrial water treatment plants.

Milestones in Water Technology 

Since 1995 Uranium Removal from Flood Water
UIT developed a new technology to separate uranium from the flooding water of former uranium mines and the complete processing of uranium to a usable product, initially on a laboratory scale. In 1997, this technology was applied on an industrial scale and has been running successfully ever since. Numerous follow-up and recent UIT business activities are based on this technology and led to successful and environmentally sound projects in remediation, solution mining and mineral resources.

Since 1998 Environmentally Friendly Mining and Processing
Based on the know-how in the field of remediation of mines and treatment plants UIT extended its portfolio with regard to exploration, mining technology and hydrometallurgical processing and contributes to the development of environmentally safe mining technologies in Australia, the U.S. and other countries. The UIT expertise is primarily based on the in-situ recovery, leaching technologies, and all stages of hydro-metallurgical processing, including down-stream-processing to the final product.

1998 – 2002 Chernobyl Project
A worldwide reknowned project: Radioactive residues left behind after an accident in a nuclear reactor. UIT, together with consortium partners from U.S.A., CH, D and UA is engaged in an EBRD-funded project to characterize fuel-containing material within the Chernobyl Shelter and to develop concepts for its recovery, conditioning and disposal.

Since 2002 Process Simulation – Extraction and Processing
In addition to software applications in water technology, UIT develops specific models and tools for the simulation of in-situ recovery (geochemistry and hydrology) and the chemical extraction, separation and hydrometallurgical processing. Thermodynamics and kinetics of these complex processes are combined into reactive transport models, whether as transportation of solutions in mining fields or for the simulation of metal separation by ion-exchange columns, the liquid-liquid extraction, resin in pulp and others.

Since 2010 Development and Application Center for Exploration, Mining and Treatment Technologies
Having gained first development experience in the field of radiological borehole probes for the exploration of uranium resources in the years 2007 - 2009, UIT takes over tasks for the systematic development of:

• Geophysical algorithms for the analysis of seismic 2D/3D data in conjunction with other exploration methods
• Development of innovative borehole probes for the integrative measurement of geophysical and geochemical-mineralogical parameters (combination of artificial radiation sources with time-correlated neutron detection and gamma-ray spectroscopy).
• Advanced technologies of extraction and processing of metals technology (comprising rare earths) with special focus on environmentally-friendly practices, including the separation of natural radioactive materials (NORM).

UIT has become the development and application center for exploration mining and treatment technologies within the General Atomics group.

Since 2011 Geological Consulting
In relation with the innovative push gained by the development activities for geological-geophysical exploration UIT expands its expertise in consulting, focusing on seismic exploration and seismic-stratigraphic correlation, metallogenesis (ore for-mation), petrography, and hydrogeology as well as geo-risk management.

Since 2015 Operation of UIT's hydrometallurgical test center
Extensive hydrometallurgical testing for recovery and treatment of (radioactive) mineral samples with focus on technology metals including rare earths.

Milestones Mineral Resources