1994 AFS Chair - E. Robert Baumann

E. Robert Baumann, the AFS Chair in 1994 was the middle child born to second generation German-American parents on May 12, 1921 and received his degree in Civil Engineering from University of Michigan in 1944.  Bob served in the armed services in World War II completed an Army Specialized  Training Program (ASTP) at the University of Illinois with the award of a B.S. degree in sanitary engineering.  He left the Army in 1946 to return to Illinois to earn M.M. and PhD degrees in sanitary engineering.

Baumann worked on research programs in pre-coat filtration and stream hydraulics before joining the faculty at Iowa State College in September, 1953 as a tenured Associate Professor of Civil Engineering.  He was responsible for the teaching and research program in sanitary engineering. He conducted research in heat treatment of swine disease organisms transmittable when feeding raw food wastes to swine, pre-coat and deep-bed filtration and wastewater treatment. He was promoted to Professor in 1956 and named as an Anson Marston Distinguished Professor of Engineering in 1972.

He was a National Science Foundation Science Faculty Fellow at the University of Durham, Kings College, England in 1959-1960 where he joined the British Filtration Society, and was one of the founders, with FM Tiller of Incofilt, the Consortium of Filtration Research Groups. In 1972-1973, he traveled around the World to visit and lecture at Incofilt Universities in Japan, Germany, France, Switzerland, Netherlands, England, and the University of Houston in the USA. He was active in the Filtration Society from its inception.

Baumann and Tiller worked together in presenting nearly 100 short courses on filtration for the American Institute of Chemical Engineers throughout the world. Baumann was a consultant to Mekorot, the water company in Israel that is responsible for water supply for the whole country. The design of the Los Angles aqueduct water treatment plant was based on Bob’s pilot plant work That plant has been in operation for over 20 years.

Baumann retired from Iowa on May 21,1991 after 38 years of service. He will reach the age of 85 on May 12,2006 and will celebrate 60 years of marriage to Mary A. Massey of Peoria, Illinois  on June 15, 2006.  They met at the University of Illinois while he was in the ASTP program there in 1945.

Why did you join the AFS and filtration industry?
My major research interest was the quality of our drinking water.  Immediately after World War II ended, I participated in an Army contract to upgrade water treatment filters (DE) for the U.S. Army. The research revolutionized the use of pre-coat filters and justified them for industrial, municipal drinking water applications and for use with swimming pools. My doctoral dissertation described these studies in detail.

What changes (technology, economic, governmental, environmental etc) have had the most impact on the filtration industry?
The tightening of water quality regulations in both drinking water and in wastewater treatment has led to the development of new technology and improved more sensitive testing instruments, ala turbidimeters , mass spectrophotometers, filters, and probably the most important--- membranes.  We will see a major shift to wider and wider use of membranes in this century.

Where do you see the filtration industry in 5-10 years?
I believe that the WORLD will have to move away from the use of fossil fuels and say goodbye to low cost and ready available oil and gas.  The alternative will be nuclear energy which will follow the French lead where now about half of their power in derived from nuclear reactors. 

It is reasonable to follow Swedish practice and use wind and water power, but most will have to depend on nuclear power. To keep this under control, the have nations will have to share the technology and provide the know-how, the disposal of wastes, probably into the sun, and the funding for the needy nations.

The need for power will accentuate our need for more fresh water. The example of Israel building membrane –based desalinization plants along their seacoast will have to be repeated in continents throughout the World.  Transportation power will gradually shift- but is coming and we need to apply our talents in solid/liquid separation to aid that shift.