Textile wastewater reuse in northern Italy (COMO)

An extensive research programme has been carried out on advanced treatment of secondary effluents discharged by centralized activated sludge treatment plants fed on mixed textile/domestic effluents in order to produce a final effluent suitable for reuse in the textile factories. Activated carbon adsorption or membrane filtration (ranging from microfiltration to reverse osmosis) have been investigated at pilot plant scale in order to determine the most economical and performing advanced treatment. The increase in concentration of refractory pollutants and of salts discharged in the final effluents because of water recycling within the textile processes have been evaluated by relevant mass balances. A techno-economical analysis on the proposed treatment is also presented.