Textile manufacturing industry set for sustainable revolution

Waste2Fresh has created a large-scale demonstrator of a system designed to recycle wastewater from the denim manufacturing process. 

The system has the ability to clean and reuse up to 95% of wastewater produced by industrial processes used in the textile industry. 

It works by degrading pollutants and then, using highly selective separation and extraction methods, to remove environmental contaminants from the water and which would then allow the water to be reused. 

This system could allow the industry to maximise sustainability if it is adopted and has the potential to be used across multiple industries in the future. 

The large-scale demonstrator created has already attracted interest from the industry and the project will now look at how it can be adopted across the sector. 

Waste2Fresh is a project coordinated by Konya Technical University in Türkiye and led by a multinational consortium of 17 industrial and academic partners. 

The project is funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation program. 

CPI played a key role in scaling up manufacturing on one of the key components and using our process engineering expertise to understand how the various technology elements will come together to produce a working plant. 

According to the World Bank Group (2019), the textile manufacturing industry is responsible for 20% of global industrial water pollution from dyeing and treating fabric. 

The wastewater associated with these processes, which is often left untreated and discharged into the surrounding environment, can release toxic chemicals and heavy metals harmful to flora, fauna and local human populations.