Tanwater was a special

water treatment Water treatment is any process that improves the quality of water to make it appropriate for a specific end-use. The end use may be drinking, industrial water supply, irrigation, river flow maintenance, water recreation or many other uses, ...

project initiated by Elmo tannery in Sweden in 1992. It aimed to reduce

nitrogen Nitrogen is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a Nonmetal (chemistry), nonmetal and the lightest member of pnictogen, group 15 of the periodic table, often called the Pnictogen, pnictogens. ...

effluent Effluent is wastewater from sewers or industrial outfalls that flows directly into surface waters, either untreated or after being treated at a facility. The term has slightly different meanings in certain contexts, and may contain various pol ...

during the tanning of

leather Leather is a strong, flexible and durable material obtained from the tanning (leather), tanning, or chemical treatment, of animal skins and hides to prevent decay. The most common leathers come from cattle, sheep, goats, equine animals, buffal ...

. The tannery received a grant for the project from

LIFE Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, Structure#Biological, organisation, met ...

(The Financial Instrument for the Environment).

Description

Tanwater was a special

project. It was initiated in 1992 by Elmo tannery. The initiative's aim was to reduce

from the water treatment systems during the tanning of

. Previously, tanneries in Europe had only been able to reduce nitrogen in the water by up to a maximum of 30%; the Tanwater project aimed at reducing nitrogen waste by up to 80%. The project was able to achieve 89% nitrogen-waste reduction in the water. This was a major breakthrough for the tanning industry, because nitrogen is a

pollutant A pollutant or novel entity is a substance or energy introduced into the environment that has undesired effect, or adversely affects the usefulness of a resource. These can be both naturally forming (i.e. minerals or extracted compounds like oi ...

ground water Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available fresh water in the world is groundwater. A unit of rock or an unconsolidat ...

History

Elmo tannery received a grant for the project from

(The Financial Instrument for the Environment). LIFE finances environmental projects in the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

. Elmo tannery, although producing leather predominantly for the car industry (

upholstery Upholstery is the work of providing furniture, especially seats, with padding, springs, webbing, and fabric or leather covers. The word also refers to the materials used to upholster something. ''Upholstery'' comes from the Middle English wor ...

leather), also produces leather for handbags and

footwear Footwear refers to garments worn on the feet, which typically serve the purpose of protective clothing, protection against adversities of the environment such as wear from rough ground; stability on slippery ground; and temperature. *Shoes and si ...

. Since Elmo started this project, there have been a number of tanneries that have followed in its steps of improving their water treatment systems in Sweden and Norway.

References

* https://web.archive.org/web/20090115001900/http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/themes/water/best.htm * http://www.tanwater.net/ * http://www.tanwater.net/file/Layman-uk.pdf * https://web.archive.org/web/20061110041537/http://www.euroleather.com/doc/frendruptan.doc Waste treatment technology {{environment-stub