TOWEFO
The Directive CE 61/96 “Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control” (IPPC) is going to be implemented in all European countries. Best Available Techniques (BAT) will be defined for several industrial processes, with the objective to eliminate or reduce emissions. As far as the textile industries are concerned, it is very likely that most of BATs will implement closed-loop options for industrial water usage. The driver for this, at least in some Mediterranean countries, is also a scarcity of water resources which typically attracts increased water charges.Some textile companies have already started in cutting down their water consumption by re-using water from the prewashing installation in the secondary washing installation, or by recirculating the first washing water several times until (visually) the quality of the water is estimated too low to continue.
The growing application of water re-use strategies will surely cause drastic changes in waste water composition (quantity reduction, increase in concentration).
A variable composition of waste water is therefore expected, according to the application of BAT and the simultaneous reduction of water consumption for economical and scarcity reasons.
This aspect will affect the performances of the already existing waste water treatment plants or, for the new treatment plants, the plant design and operation.
The project objective is to establish a multicriteria integrated and coherent implementation of Good Environmental Practices (GEP) and, therefore, water saving strategies in textile finishing processes, taking into account the treatment of industrial waste water effluent (Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive 91/271 EEC) and the impact of the final discharge to the water recipient bodies (Water Framework Directive COM (98)).
This multicriteria integrated approach, aimed to promote the efficient use of resources within textile finishing industries characterised by large use of water, will be implemented to optimise the overall impact on the environment.
The integrated multicriteria methodology coupled with an effective regulatory policy will contribute to the improvement of competitiveness of textile finishing industries and this might contribute to the attenuation of the negative effects of the globalisation on the textile finishing industries in Europe.