European Factory Research Articles

INNOVATIVE FABRIC DESIGN OF THE VIENNA WORKSHOPS

The Vienna Workshops is an artistic and industrial association founded in 1903 by architect J. Hoffman, artist K. Moser and industrialist F. Werndorfer, who made a significant contribution to the development of textile ornamentation. J. Hoffman (who was influenced by the Scottish architect C.R. Mackintosh) continued his bold experiments in the use of smooth planes and volumes in architectural structures. J. Hoffman was a follower of the Gesamtkunstwerk concept and he paid special attention to the textile ornamentation which should be reflected in a single style set by architectural forms. In the initial period of activity of the Vienna workshops from 1903 to 1910, the artists of the association developed a special type of geometric ornaments, which were distinguished by the innovative ways of building rapport compositions using the simplest shapes: squares, rectangles, ovals, rhombuses, etc. The new structures of the ornamental motifs had a striking individual manner and were used in a variety of products of the Viennese workshops. The article introduces for the first time into scientific circulation sketches and a book of samples of textile products for 1908 of a French enterprise supposedly owned by C. Steiner, with geometric patterns by Viennese workshops. These rare materials were provided by a private collector from St. Petersburg. The next important stage in the association’s activities began after the opening of the textile department in 1910 and was associated with the development of stylized floral motifs in a primitive manner. Following the artists of Munich, the Viennese workshops turned to the folklore tradition and proposed new textile designs with large floral and foliage forms. They were characterized by a planar image of elements, the use of graphic possibilities of lines, spots and shading of local colors. The fabrics of the Viennese workshops were a great success with contemporaries and were used to create women’s outfits and in interior design. Innovative geometric and floral patterns of fabrics in a primitive manner had a noticeable impact on the products of textile factories in Europe in the first decades of the 20th century.

Multicultural Art Nouveau Décor and Polychromy in the Interior of the Chaim Frenkel Villa in Šiauliai

Summary The Frenkel family was famous in Lithuania not only as major manufacturers but also as generous benefactors. They honourably fulfilled the duty of a wealthy Jew to provide charity and social assistance to those most in need. The Frenkel family was forced to leave Lithuania in 1939: during the Soviet and Nazi occupations, the family lost all their possessions. While some family members had Lithuanian citizenship, the property rights of the descendants of Chaim Frenkel (1857–1920) were not reinstated, and from 17 June 1993 the Chaim Frenkel Villa became a department of the Šiauliai “Aušros” Museum (ŠAM, established in 1923). After the building’s renovation (finished in 2008) the villa’s interior spaces reflect minimally survived aesthetics of high class everyday Lithuanian Jewish private life at the beginning of the 20th century. The aim of the article is to argue how the Art Nouveau style in (territory of nowadays) Lithuania was not pure, but intertwined with retro-styles and internationalism. The case of the Ch. Frenkel Villa enriches the history of Lithuanian Art Nouveau with rich combinations of colours, shapes and compositions typical of Lithuanian Jews. Noticeably in the case of the Ch. Frenkel Villa, the traditionalist way of life and the wisdom of Jewish daily life restrained fashionable European design innovations. This is proof that the living environment of Lithuanian Jews was perceived as an important space for spiritual life and the worship of God. Despite searches – fruitless so far – to discover the building’s architect, we can nonetheless recognise the connection of the Ch. Frenkel Villa with the art history of neighbouring Latvia, Riga in particular. It is known that the creator of the villa’s wall painting – famous Latvian painter Voldemārs Zeltiņš (1879–1909) – came to Šiauliai from Riga especially for this work. While the décor of the Ch. Frenkel family house-villa interior may look very magnificent to today’s generation, in comparison with wealthy European factory owners’ homes it was very modest, though yet of very high artistic value, unique and avoiding the repetition of straightforward cheap fashions of interior design.

Trade Defence Instruments: A New Tool for the European Union’s Extractivism

Abstract The European Union (EU) is regularly criticized for using its trade policies to arm-twist other countries into agreeing to supply European factories with raw materials. One area of its trade policy, however, has thus far escaped attention in this regard: trade defence. This should change as the EU increasingly uses trade defence instruments not only to address unfair trade practices but also to seek access to raw materials from other countries. It does so by imposing higher trade defence tariffs on countries that employ policies that ensure raw materials extracted within their territories are processed domestically. This approach is worrisome since, due to the EU’s market size, it may discourage resource-rich countries from developing downstream industries of their own. Furthermore, these countries’ policies are often in line with their international obligations so that the EU is unilaterally infringing on these countries’ sovereignty over their natural resources when targeting these policies. These countries and their exporting producers should thus seize the means at their disposal to put a stop to the EU’s practices.

The Association Between Dimethylacetamide Exposure and Liver Toxicity: A Large Retrospective Analysis in Workers From Four European Factories.

The Association Between Dimethylacetamide Exposure and Liver Toxicity: A Large Retrospective Analysis in Workers From Four European Factories.

The 2021 campaign in Europe

The 2021/22 beet campaign in the European Union was the best campaign since the record campaign of 2017/18. In most European factories it began earlier and lasted longer than usual. The EU put sugar production at 16.63mnt in 2021/22. This is 2.08mnt or 14.3% higher than last year’s production of 14.55mnt. This paper describes the

Breathing new futures in polluted environments (Taranto, Italy)

AbstractThis paper analyses the ways that young people create new futures in Taranto, Southern Italy, a city hosting one of the largest and most polluting steel factories in Europe. It draws on ethnographic fieldwork in Taranto and uses storytelling to understand how young people – a minority of residents aged between 24 and 35 years – shape futures in industrially polluted environments. The study weaves together geographic and anthropological scholarship about futures in (post‐)industrial cities, conceptualisations of breathing as well as lived experiences in highly polluted areas. Through mobilising the notion of breathing, we highlight the embodied, entangled, and emotional dimensions of the young people's everyday practices and develop our concept of “breathing new futures.” We argue that both pollution and the envisioning of a new future become visible in everything the study's participants do; the ways they promote environmental awareness, take care of animals, or seek to foster children's education. By focusing on generational differences, the study expands on recent scholarship analysing environmental pollution in relation to intersectional identities such as race, ethnicity, and gender, and sheds light on the activities of young people to imagine and live new futures in polluted environments.

Comparative Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) between standard gypsum ceiling tile and polyurethane gypsum ceiling tile

In this paper, the LCA of two gypsum ceiling tiles is compared, the first one is a traditional gypsum tile and the second is a new eco ceiling tile in which polyurethane foam waste has been incorporated. Both tiles were made at one of the largest gypsum tile factories in Europe. The life cycle assessment has been considered from cradle to grave for which the corresponding production stages have been defined. This includes the extraction and transportation of raw materials, the manufacturing process, transportation to the client, the use of the product and the end of its useful life. The results show that the tile with polyurethane has a better environmental performance than the standard commercial ceiling tile. This is quantified as a 14% reduction in energy consumption, a 14% reduction in CO2 emissions and a 25% reduction in water consumption compared with the standard tile, all the while maintaining the technical performance. An analysis of the results suggests that the new eco product has a competitive advantage on the market thanks to its environmental improvements and good technical performance.

The Association Between Dimethylacetamide Exposure and Liver Toxicity: A Large Retrospective Analysis in Workers From Four European Factories.

Objective:This study examines the association between 8-h time weighted N, N-dimethylacetamide (DMAc) air exposure and potential hepatocellular injury in a retrospective study among fibre-production workers in four European factories.Methods and Results:Twenty-nine (1.5%) of 1844 alanine aminotransferase (ALT) observations had liver values two times above normal; 0.2% three times above normal and 0.05% five times above normal. Two (0.1%) observations were indicative of hepatocellular injury. Logistic regression analyses showed an odds ratio for elevated ALT of 0.88 per 1 ppm (P trend = 0.39). Linear random effects regression analyses showed a decrease of one international unit (IU/L) ALT per 1 ppm increase of DMAc exposure (P = 0.002).Conclusions:This study found no association between DMAc exposure and hepatoxicity amongst European workers. The prevalence of elevated liver values was lower compared to the general population without occupational exposure.

From sea to the shore: Texts, traditions and the maritime practices in the western Indian Ocean, 1600–1800 AD

ABSTRACT When it comes to the maritime history of the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), there are few available textual resources and written pieces of evidence which can help undertake a cogent reconstruction. This article attempts to retrieve some of those maritime practices that prevailed among the mariners and sailors on the basis of a few available written documents, such as travellers’ accounts, Mughal court chronicles, European factory records and other written documents. Such historical reconstruction is important since, in the past few decades, the Indian Ocean has become significant object of study in its own right. The article seeks to recover “forgotten” oceanic histories of law or practices in the western IOR, and examine how these got institutionalised as admiralty law in India. More precisely, it focuses on the process of the transformation of maritime law from tradition to admiralty law in some detail.

Tiled Interiors on Paper: Trade Catalogues as a Key Source to Understand the Use of Floor and Wall Tiles in European Interiors

The enormous popularity of decorated industrial wall and floor tiles in Europe in the years 1840–1940 is strongly linked to the standardization, technical quality, and aesthetic variety of the products that were well marketed through often lavishly colored trade catalogues. More than the study of existing tile schemes in interiors, a systematic study of these trade catalogues leads to a better understanding of the general use of tile in the nineteenth- and twentieth-century interior. They inform us about factories and offer invaluable information on the technical and aesthetic evolution of tiles. They help us to date the designs and acquire a better knowledge of changes in taste in applying them. They are also a valuable source for documenting differences and similarities between factories and countries in matters of tile design and reveal opportunities to better understand the global export success or stylistic influence of many European factories in other countries on the continent as well as overseas. In this paper a general and theoretical approach is elucidated by referring to concrete cases based on a research collection of more than 600 tile catalogues from all over the world.

CONFECTIONERY IN UKRAINE: ADOPTION OF EUROPEAN FOOD TRADITION

Summary. Objective is to analyze the adaptation of European food traditions in Ukraine on the example of the historical development of the confectionery industry. Methodology of the research ‒ the principle of historicism, which allowed us to reveal the ways of transfer and transformation of food traditions. The scientific novelty is to find out the type of conversions, the quality and nature of borrowings, examples of local adaptation, and their historical background. Conclusions. 1. An industrial revolution that needed mass consumption and, accordingly, could provide cheap counterparts to traditional sweets played a significant role in adaptation. 2. The raw material basis for the development of the industry was formed only during the nineteenth century. 3. The location of Ukraine at the crossroads of geopolitical interests has shaped different spheres of influence, and, accordingly, the variety of regional sweets, which is later preserved in the factories range. Thus, the Ottoman rule in the Northern Black Sea, despite the recolonization of the region after the Russo-Turkish wars, has preserved the traditions of Eastern sweets in the culture of the Ukrainian South. 4. Based on the analysis of archival documents and periodicals, an analysis of the assortment of confectionery factories of Ukraine was made, which made it possible to compare them with the corresponding assortment of European factories and to trace the interweaving of the local food tradition and its combination with the European traditions (for example, Ukrainian adaptation of biscuits and local traditions in forming a recipe of Ukrainian gingerbread compared to Polish and English analogues of this product). 5. Spreadingof chocolate technologies was a multilayered process: those technologies were transported from Vienna to Poland and Ukraine actually at the same time. Thus, we got a blossoming industry of chocolate making in Lviv. On the other hand, the transition from the craft to the factory stage of the development of the industry was far more difficult in Western Ukraine, due to position of this region as an agrarian in the common structure of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Representation of East African Slave Trade in Modern Tanzanian Schoolbooks: Text and Illustrations

The paper deals with interrelations of the illustrations and the text in narrating East African slave trade of the 19th century in modern Tanzanian school books. A visible modifying of historical reality is promoted in some history textbooks: the industrial revolution in Europe and its need in labor force (even in slave labor force on “plantations” and factories in Europe itself) are presented as the main reason for the development of the East African slave trade; Europeans are also given as the main factor, actors and beneficiaries of this slave trade; the role of the so-called “Arabs”, especially local ones, is smoothed out. However, the images used to illustrate the textbooks turn out to be more conservative: since they are based most on sketches of 19th century made by eyewitnesses of the events, and on these sketches the main characters are recognizably “Arabs”, with the exception of one case, when the modern illustrator intentionally inserts in his picture a typical “European colonialist” leading a slave caravan. The article examines this specific situation and offers its explanations.

Whole genome sequencing used in an industrial context reveals a Salmonella laboratory cross-contamination

In 2013, during a routine laboratory analysis performed on food samples, one finished product from a European factory was tested positive for Salmonella Hadar. At the same period, one environmental isolate in the same laboratory was serotyped Salmonella Hadar. Prior to this event, the laboratory performed a proficiency testing involving a sample spiked with NCTC 9877 Salmonella Hadar. The concomitance of Salmonella Hadar detection led to the suspicion of a laboratory cross-contamination between the Salmonella Hadar isolate used in the laboratory proficiency testing and the Salmonella Hadar isolate found on the finished product by the same laboratory. Since the classical phenotypic serotyping method is able to attribute a serotype to Salmonella isolates with a common antigenic formula, but cannot differentiate strains of the same serotype within the subspecies, whole genome sequencing was used to test the laboratory cross-contamination hypothesis. Additionally, 12 Salmonella Hadar from public databases, available until the time of the event, were included in the whole genome sequencing analysis to better understand the genomic diversity of this serotype in Europe. The outcome of the analysis showed a maximum of ten single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) between the isolates coming from the laboratory and the finished product, and thus confirmed the laboratory cross-contamination. These results combined with all additional investigations done at the factory, allowed to release finished product batches produced and thus circumvented unnecessary food waste and economic losses for the factory.

Cooperation against Capitalism’s Biases. Workers-Recuperated Enterprises in Italy during the Great Recession

This paper analyzes the case of workers’ buyout, which has emerged with increasing evidence in Italy over the last ten years, in order to reflect on sustainable alternatives to the capitalist mode of production. Worker-recuperated bankrupted companies, generally defined as recovered factories, have been linked to the Argentinean movement of empresas recuperadas, which produced in the early 2000s a strong social upheaval and a proliferation of companies occupied and restarted for production by the workers themselves. Italian and European recovered factories are, however, mostly the result of a workers’ buyout, an institutional process which allows the employees of a company in crisis to acquire the same by converting their own mobility allowances in share capital. The thesis that we intend to support here is that workers’ buyout provides an excellent example of the resilient capacity of individuals to react to crisis, partly counteracting the decline in employment levels and preserving their livelihoods, as well as a prospective alternative to the capitalist mode of production.

Big Data enabled Intelligent Immune System for energy efficient manufacturing management

The Big Data driven approach has become a new trend for manufacturing optimization. In this chapter, an innovative Big Data enabled Intelligent Immune System (I2S) has been developed to monitor, analyze and optimize machining processes over lifecycles in order to achieve energy efficient manufacturing. There are two major functions in I2S: (1) an Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs)-based algorithm and statistical analysis tools are used to identify the abnormal electricity consumption patterns of manufactured components from monitored Big Data. An intelligent immune mechanism is devised to adapt to the condition changes and process dynamics of machining systems; (2) a re-scheduling algorithm is triggered if abnormal manufacturing conditions are detected thereby achieving multi-objective optimization in terms of energy consumption and manufacturing performance. In this research, Computer Numerical Controlled (CNC) machining processes and industrial case studies have been used for system validation. The novelty of I2S is that Big Data analytics and intelligent immune mechanisms have been integrated systematically to achieve condition monitoring, analysis and energy efficient optimization over manufacturing execution lifecycles. The applicability of the system has been validated by multiple industrial trials in European factories. Around 30% energy saving and over 50% productivity improvement have been achieved by adopting I2S in the factories.

Exhibiting the German Past: Museum, Film, and Musealization ed. by Peter M. McIsaac and Gabriele Mueller

Reviewed by: Exhibiting the German Past: Museum, Film, and Musealization ed. by Peter M. McIsaac and Gabriele Mueller Alexandra M. Hill Exhibiting the German Past: Museum, Film, and Musealization. Edited by Peter M. McIsaac and Gabriele Mueller. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2015. Pp. 300. Cloth $60.00. ISBN 978-1442649651. This fine collection of essays is built on the premise that museums and films share common strategies and that "both engage in processes of representation, interpretation, and canonization that … are necessary to render ephemeral forms of social memory into more durable symbols and practices, thus shaping collective remembering and contributing to the construction of institutionalized top-down memory and historical master narratives" (5). Of primary concern to both museums and films are questions of authenticity, the tension between education and entertainment, and modes of seeing. The first two chapters focus in particular on modes of seeing. Simon Ward applies his theory of the "urban museal gaze" to film and finds examples specifically in Wim Wenders's Himmel über Berlin (1987). Mark W. Rectanus argues that "civic seeing" can help visitors understand the very different intentions and strategies between two museums: the BMW Welt complex including the BMW Museum, and the Jewish Museum Munich, specifically the installation "Speaking Germany" by Sharone Lifschitz. These two articles, both rich with theory, serve as an introduction to the many case studies that follow. The next pair of very engaging articles focuses on film. In her excellent article, Alice Kuzniar closely examines the documentary Unser täglich Brot (2005), which documents various aspects of European factory farming. While Kuzniar finds that the film "participates in a musealization to the extent that it documents … what would otherwise remain invisible and unarchived" (72–73), she wonders whether the film techniques (characterized predominantly by long shots and the absence of narration) tacitly condone the "technologization at work in this industry" (65). Catriona Firth compares the book Der Baader-Meinhof Komplex (1985) by Stefan Aust and the eponymously named film by Uli Edel and Bernd Eichinger, considering [End Page 701] the consequences of representing history through a "testimonial mode" (in the case of the book) versus an "experiential mode" (in the case of the film). The next articles by Anne Winkler and Jonathan Bach engage with museums of East German everyday life. Winkler, a sociologist, is especially interested in the amateur museums that are privately funded, thereby escaping aspects of museum tradition (e.g., didactic panels) and the official policy of understanding the East German past within the framework of life under dictatorship. Bach's more theoretical article, which focuses on the authenticity and tactility of objects in museums of GDR Alltagskultur, is less interested in distinguishing among types of such museums—a difference that I would argue is still quite important. The following three articles do not limit themselves to one type of media but consider how memory of the National Socialist past is remediated using a variety of genres and techniques. Stephan Jaeger looks at popular representations of World War II in museum exhibits and documentary/docudrama films. Annika Orich and Florentine Strzelczyk's very well-researched and contextualized article traces the difficulty in discussing the National Socialist film Jud Süß (1940) in a museum exhibit, a documentary, and a feature film. Kathryn M. Floyd considers questions of authorship and narration by examining exhibition photographs, specifically those of the Nazi-era exhibit Entartete Kunst taken by photographer Arthur Grimm, and ties exhibition photography to still photography taken on the set of films. Christine Sprengler considers Harun Farocki's 1995 installation Arbeiter verlassen die Fabrik in elf Jahrzehnten, in conversation with the Lumière brothers' film Workers Leaving the Factory (1895) and Farocki's one-screen installation by the same name from 1996. This stand-alone article (i.e., not grouped with others in the volume) nonetheless engages with many of the red threads that link all the articles together: archiving (here, via film), the creation of space for the viewer to enter, the intersection of film and museums, and the didactic function of museum exhibits. The final two essays in the book bring the perspectives of museum curators to the chorus—a wise choice that helps...

Problems of Industrialization in Africa

The newly independent nations of Africa have, without exception, proclaimed their desire to industrialize in order to create increasingly productive employment opportunities and higher living standards for all their inhabitants. Historically, colonial development was oriented to producing the raw material exports required by the factories of Europe, and importing the manufactured goods those factories produced. Colonial government expenditures were devoted to building the infrastructure—railroads, roads, ports—required to facilitate the export of raw materials. Colonial policies discouraged local manufacturing to preserve African markets for goods produced in European factories. Most of the investable surpluses created by raw materials production in Africa were siphoned out of the country in the form of profits, interest, and dividends of the oligopolistic colonial firms that owned the mines and estates, and dominated the foreign trade. Little capital was left for investment in new industries. At the time of independence, less than 10% of the national product in the typical African country consisted of manufactured output—among the lowest level of industrialization in the world.

Letters from China: A History of the Origins of the Chemical Analysis of Ceramics

This paper is an attempt to document the early history of the quantitative chemical analysis of ceramic materials in Europe, with a specific interest in the analysis of archaeological ceramics. This inevitably leads to a study of the attempts made in Europe to imitate the miraculous material—porcelain—imported from China from the fourteenth century onwards. It is clear that before the end of the eighteenth century progress was made in this endeavour by systematic but essentially trial-and-error firing of various raw materials, culminating in the successful production of European porcelain by Böttger and von Tschirnhaus in 1709. Shortly after this, letters describing the Chinese manufacture of porcelain, and, more importantly, samples of raw and fired material, began to arrive in Europe from French Jesuit missionaries, which were subjected to intense study. Following the perfection of gravimetric methods of chemical analysis in the late eighteenth century, these Chinese samples, and samples of porcelain from various European factories, were regularly analysed, particularly by Brongniart at Sèvres. Similar work was carried out on English porcelain by Simeon Shaw and Sir Arthur Church. The origins of the chemical analysis of archaeological ceramics are still somewhat obscure, but must date to the late eighteenth or early nineteenth centuries, by the likes of Vauquelin and Chaptal.

Pecularities of the Rural South: The Legacy of Slavery and Cotton Production

Pecularities of the Rural South: The Legacy of Slavery and Cotton ProductionEMPIRE OF COTTON: A Global History. By Sven Beckert. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 2014.RAISED UP DOWN YONDER: Growing up Black in Rural Alabama. By Angela McMillan Howell. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. 2013.ONE PLACE: Paul Kwilecki and Four Decades of Photographs from Decatur County, Georgia. Edited by Tom Rankin. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. 2013.Popular understandings of the rural South have historically been permeated with romanticism. Even texts are critical in some respect tend to quite easily lapse into a sordid opportunity for unearned redemption. As Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind (1929) and Kathryn Stockett's The Help (2009) demonstrate, even the noble quest of Southern white women to break free from the shackles of patriarchy can morph into a thinly veiled homage to slavery and capitalism. In tandem, slavery and capitalism produced the human grist for the nineteenth and twentieth centuries' industrial mills of Europe and North America. Three books, Sven Beckert's Empire of Cotton: A Global History (2014); Angela McMillan Howell's Raised Up Down Yonder: Growing Up Black in Rural Alabama (2013) and Tom Rankin's One Place: Paul Kwilecki and Four Decades of Photographs from Decatur County, Georgia (2013) capture the peculiarities of Southern rurality, and to varying degrees articulate why poverty continues to persist across large swaths of the rural South well into the twentyfirst century.African Americans in the rural South were essential to the development of capitalism globally. Sven Beckert, the recipient of the Bancroft Award for Empire of Cotton, argues the expansion of capitalism went hand-in-hand with the enslavement of Africans and cotton production in the South. So crucial was slave labor, wrote Beckert, that the Liverpool Chronicle and Times warned if slaves ever should be emancipated, cotton cloth prices might double or triple, with devastating consequences for Britain (110).Empire of Cotton examines the relationship between cotton production in the rural South and the distribution and manufacturing of cotton globally. Cotton manufacturing is an ancient cultural practice remained a cottage industry globally for thousands of years before Europeans began cultivating it in the western hemisphere. This subtropical plant flourished in areas where the temperature remained above fifty degrees Fahrenheit and the annual rainfall was at least twenty inches. It grew [f]rom Gujarat to Sulawesi, along the banks of the Upper Volta to the Rio Grande, from the valleys of Nubia to the plains of Yucatan (4). People planted cotton along with other crops, nursed it to maturity, and harvested it as they did the crops they ate. For thousands of years, the cotton goods manufactured in the homes of peasants rarely circulated beyond the plant's natural growing zone. According to Beckert, India and China were the centers of the cotton industry while Indian weavers dominated intercontinental trade. Between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, the balance of power in the cotton industry shifted. As Beckert notes, European trade in cotton textiles tied together Asia, the Americas, Africa, and Europe in a complex commercial web (36). Unable to get a stronghold on the industry through technological innovation, argues Beckert, Europeans used brutality to insert themselves into the worlds of cotton and to dominate global cotton networks. Textiles from Indian weavers paid for millions of enslaved Africans who toiled on Southern cotton plantations. The cotton enslaved Africans harvested went to factories in Europe and New England where poor white women and children constituted close to 90 percent of the workforce.Empire of Cotton shows how cotton production and slavery catapulted the rural South onto the center stage of the world economy. …

UF and RO membrane fouling during wastewater desalination in the petrochemical industry

The large consumption of fresh water in petrochemical industry makes wastewater reuse almost mandatory, with UF and RO membrane desalination playing a crucial role. To that aim, frequent and expensive recovery treatments are required, not always sufficient to prevent (ir)reversible fouling of the membranes, as experienced with a major European petrochemical factory. The paper describes the detailed physio-chemical investigation and instrumental analyses carried out to discover the cause(s) of the fouling and the operational measures required to contrast the phenomenon.