The CASCADE project – Closed-loop wAter Systems in textile industrial distriCts: orchestrAteD rEmoval of emerging pollutants from textile wastewater – aims to evaluate, at a laboratory scale and test at a demonstration scale, a series of treatment technologies for removing PFAS and microplastics from wastewater at both textile companies and centralized wastewater treatment plants.
Emerging contaminants have been the focus of scientific attention for many years, and more recently, regulatory bodies at both European and national levels. This is a very broad category of chemical substances – present in the environment in concentrations of the order of ng/l – µg/l – that are persistent and biologically active. Limiting the use of these substances at the source, to reduce their presence in the environment, is the logical path to follow, as well as a practice that some European and international textile companies are already voluntarily adopting. However, for some products, this is difficult to implement, and therefore both prevention and control strategies should be pursued in parallel. Furthermore, some of these substances are particularly persistent and have been used over the decades by various industrial sectors, therefore they are ubiquitous in different environmental areas, even if present in low concentrations.
For these reasons, it is important to study methods and tools for removing micropollutants from the environment, and particularly from water. Wastewater treatment plants play a fundamental role in controlling environmental pollution from micropollutants, although they are not currently designed to remove such complex and diverse substances at such low concentrations.
The CASCADE project aims to evaluate, on a laboratory scale, and test, on a demonstration scale, a series of treatment technologies for removing PFAS and microplastics from wastewater at both textile companies and centralized wastewater treatment plants. The implementation of these treatments will reduce the discharge of these micro-pollutants into the environment, both through treated wastewater and sewage sludge, and will allow for the reuse of treated wastewater, thus avoiding the re-introduction of pollutants into the production system. The project also plans to deepen the ecotoxicological evaluation and develop the feasibility of supplying the industrial water supply with treated wastewater.
The list of partners involved in the project:
- Sustainable Silk Textile Center Sr1 - project leader
- Politenico of Milan,
- Lariana Depur,
- University of Insubria,
- Como Acqua Srl,
- Acquedotto Industriale Soc. Coop. a r.l.,
- University of Brescia,
- Centro Tecnologico Das Industrias Textil e Do Vestuario De Portugal,
- Aquasoil Ltd,
- De Nora Water Technologies Italy Srl,
- Biochemie lab Ltd,
- Stichting ZDHC Foundation.
Project start date 01/10/2023, duration 48 months.
Visit the site dedicated to the project
