An innovative water recycling system based on a combination of existing biological and separation processes to decrease the environmental impact of the petrochemical industry.

REWATCH project analyses and characterises the wastewaters produced by different European petrochemical plants in order to design and build a prototype plant in the facilities of a petrochemical complex in Tarragona (Spain) with high versatility, with the capacity of treating wastewater of different qualities to the standards required for various re-use applications.

During the project, the environmental benefits and the economic feasibility of the technology will be evaluated, based on its operation in the pilot plant, using life cycle analysis (LCA) and life cycle cost (LCC) procedures, and water footprint calculations.

In addition, project partners are developing a decision-support tool to boost the transferability of the technology, which will enable other petrochemical industries to design water treatment procedures based on their own wastewater compositions and the water quality needed for local re-use. This demonstration will be an important step towards sustainability in the European petrochemical industry.

The project is led by Eurecat’s Sustainability Technological Unit, with the participation of DOW Chemical Ibérica, KWR Water, Veolia Water Technologies and the European Water Supply and Sanitation Technology Platform (WssTP).

 

General details

Project

REWATCH – Demonstration of an innovative recycling scheme to increase the water efficiency in the petrochemical industry

Project reference

LIFE15 ENV/ES/000480

Programme and call for tender

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Life Programme