Project Ô Online Workshop – “Wastewater management in the textile industry in Croatia”
The company Galeb d.d. and Particula Group d.o.o. in cooperation with the Association of Textile, Clothing and Leather-Processing Croatian Chamber of Economy (HGK) held an online workshop on waste water management in the textile industry in Croatia. The seminar was held on November 15, 2022, as a part of the Horizon 2020 project “Project Ô: demonstration of planning and technology tools for a circular, integrated and symbiotic use of water.”
At the workshop, lectures and discussions were held and led by Mr. Josip Aračić, President of the Management Board of Galeb d.d., Prof. Ph.D. Branka Vojnović from the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Textile Technology with the lecture “Wastewater of the textile industry – characterization and treatment options”, Iva Ćurić from the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Technology with the lecture “Wastewater management in the textile industry” and Ph.D. Mario Koštan from “Kostan Consultancy and Innovation” with a lecture on opportunities from EU structural funds for entrepreneurs in the textile sector – 2021-2027.
One of the goals of this project is the research and development of technical and technological solutions in the water resources management, i.e., the creation and promotion of a circular economy in the field of water supply. The mission of the project is to show how water recycling at the local level contributes to water management as part of a circular water economy. You can read more about the project itself on the project’s official website: https://www.eu-project-o.eu/
Practical demonstrations of Project Ô technologies were installed in four different economic environments for industrial and domestic water management: Italy, Spain, Israel, and Croatia. In Croatia, the aim of the project was to provide support to the textile industry, which relies on processes that require a large amount of water, in order to enable the reuse of water and resources. The company Galeb d.d. from Omiš is one of the partners in the project and now the owner of one of the four installed pilot plants. During the five years of the project, a demo site was installed – a pilot plant for the implementation of new technologies: photo-catalyst, nanofiltration and reverse osmosis, through which tests were carried out on the possibility of tertiary purification (secondarily already purified wastewater) to a high degree of purity and the possibility of reusing such purified water.
Source: https://www.eu-project-o.eu/action/croatia/
Representatives of all textile companies from Croatia and the region, representatives of all technical Universities in Croatia, as well as representatives of all Chambers of Commerce were invited to the online workshop.
The importance of this project is in the reuse of water, which results in the reduction of operating costs and negative environmental impacts. The Croatian city of Omiš is a successful tourist destination and declared an area of the Natura 2000 ecological network due to its ecological importance. By processing its own “recycled” water, Galeb d.d. can reduce its costs, i.e., consumption of water, energy, and resources, and protect its local environment. The implemented technologies are of a modular design, which means that it allows the configuration of the units according to work needs, separate streams of used water can be treated independently and simultaneously, it can be used offline or in remote locations, and it can work continuously, powered only by solar energy with the support of small LEDs voltage.
Treated water is suitable for economic reuse, optimizing the use of resources such as salts and thermal energy.
During the Project Ô, the CIRCULAR ECONOMY PLATFORM was designed to enable all companies to participate in the circular water economy. The platform allows companies to assess which of the technological modules of Project Ô has the greatest economic and operational viability for their water treatment needs, provides the possibility to assess whether local opportunities for cooperation are available in a way that enables the interaction of ‘key players’ involved in water treatment activities by sharing requirements, offer, technology and logistics.
Learn more about the Circular Economy platform at the following link: https://www.eu-project-o.eu/solutions/cep/
The main conclusions of this online workshop, lectures and discussions are raising awareness of the negative effects of fast fashion on the textile industry as a major polluter of the environment, focusing the textile industry on the use of sustainable waste water treatment technologies and encouraging the circular economy and reuse of waste water, as well as the importance of structural and investment funds of the European Union for easier financing of infrastructure and technological projects.
The project Ô implements the vision of Galeb d.d. and Particula Group d.o.o. on the implementation of new low-cost water management solutions in small countries. Croatia is a country with numerous small communities such as the city of Omiš. The city of Omiš strives to combine the modern tourism industry and large industrial plants such as the one in the Galeb company. It is important to note once again that the Galeb textile factory is located on the banks of the Cetina River, which is recognized as a Natura 2000 area and is rich in specific protected flora and fauna. So, the technology that will be implemented through Project Ô in the city of Omiš paves the way for the main action, which can easily be replicated in other similar small communities along the coast of the Adriatic Sea.
This project was financed from the European Union’s research and innovation program Horizon 2020 under grant agreement no. 776816. Call for proposals: H2020-CIRC-2017TwoStage. The project PROJECT Ô received funds from the Innovation Action Program of the European Union Obzor 2020 within the framework of the Grant Agreement no. 776816, with an allocated budget of €9,261,272.38.
Croatian version of this press release is available on the following link: Press Priopćenje za javnost, Galeb d.d. N°2