Smart innovative system for recycling wastewater and creating closed loops in textile manufacturing industrial processes

ended

Waste2Fresh proposal addresses freshwater resource scarcity and water pollution challenges exacerbated by energy-intensive industries which are major users of fresh water (for e.g. processing, washing, diluting, heating, cooling, and transporting products) and pollute freshwater resources. 20% of global industrial water pollution comes from textile manufacturing. Breakthrough innovations are needed in energy-intensive industries to recycle water and create closed loops in industrial processes. According to the European Commission, such “closed loops would significantly reduce the use of fresh water and improve water availability in the relevant EU water catchment areas, as outlined in the Water Framework Directive, for other purposes (adjacent communities, farming and bio-based industries). Waste2Fresh proposes to meet the above challenges and industry needs by developing and demonstrating (to TRL 7) a closed loop recycling system for wastewater from textile manufacturing factories such as the denim ERAK factory. The Waste2Fresh system will integrate novel and innovative catalytic degradation approaches with highly selective separation and extraction techniques to deliver a closed loop system that assures near-zero discharge, reduces current use of freshwater resources and considerably increases the recovery of water, energy and other resources (organics, salts and heavy metals), culminating in a 30% increase in resource and water efficiency compared to the state-of-the-art. The system will ultimately lead to considerable environmental gains weighted against EU and global environmental footprints. The Waste2Fresh solution fits into Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) - a wastewater management strategy worth 5.44Bn€ and expected to reach 8.16Bn€ by 2025, growing at a CAGR of 5.5% over 2019-2025.