BREF – Best Available Techniques Reference Documents

The BREF documents (Best Available Techniques Reference Documents) are European reference documents that describe in detail which techniques are considered “best available” for individual industries. They are published by the European Commission and serve as the basis for the BAT Wastewater Directive.

For the area of BAT wastewater, BREF documents contain specific information on:

• Technologies that are recognized as state of the art
• Typical emission and discharge values that can be achieved with these processes
• Energy efficiency and resource conservation measures

Companies can use this information to review their facilities and, if necessary, switch to processes such as evaporators, ultrafiltration, or coalescence separators that comply with the recommendations.

The BREF recommendations are implemented within the legal framework of the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED).