Brominated flame retardants in textile wastewater: reducing Deca-BDE using best available techniques

•17 BAT are determined to reduce Deca-BDE concentrations in textile wastewater.•Sending wastewater containing Deca-BDE to an external specialised waste processing plant is considered to be the most effective BAT.•Background information on the emission data is essential for determining BAT-AEL.•BAT-AEL for Deca-BDE is determined to be <20 μg/l for the Flemish textile industry.

Decabromodiphenyl ether is a brominated flame retardant used in a variety of applications, including finishing processes in the textile industry. The purpose of this paper is to determine the best available techniques for reducing decabromodiphenyl ether emissions from the textile industry via its wastewater, for example sending wastewater containing Deca-BDE to an external specialised waste processing plant, and to determine the emission levels associated with the best available techniques: <20 μg/l as a 24 h average for the Flemish textile industry. The importance of keeping the best available techniques up-to-date and possible bottlenecks for determining the emissions levels associated with the best available techniques, in view of the revision of the reference document on best available techniques for the textiles industry under the Directive on Industrial Emissions, are also discussed in this paper.