Water. desalination + reuse

Nanchong chemical park employs advanced treatment and reuse projects _________ Tobias Tu, deputy general manager, Berlinwasser China Holding Ltd ___ Editor's Note: A project to treat the effluent from a chemical industrial park in Nanchong, in north-east Sichuan, China, is involving multiple processes including a reuse system involving ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis. This build-operate-transfer project is the first industrial wastewater treatment project for Berlinwasser China Holdings, a company jointly established by Berlinwasser International AG and Metito Group in 2008, but now a wholly owned subsidiary of Metito. THE ADMINISTRATION Committee of Nanchong Chemical Industrial Park (NCIP), in China's Sichuan province, is building an industrial wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) for the site with a first-phase capacity of 17,000 m3/d. The project will treat and recycle the industrial wastewater discharged by the companies settled in the NCIP, and supply the recycled wastewater back to these companies. Sichuan Shengda New Materials Co will directly discharge its purified terephthalic acid (PTA, a key raw material for polyester) wastewater to the WWTP, while the other NCIP companies will pretreat their wastewater to reach the standard of National Discharge III level before discharging to the WWTP. The total investment in the project is RMB 335 million (US$ 55 million). NaNchoNg aNd The NcIP Nanchong City lies in the north-central of Sichuan basin, which is in the north-east of Sichuan province. The resident population of the city is 6.28 million. The city's GDP in 2012 was RMB 118.0 billion (US$ 19.4 billion), the fifth largest in the province, and the local fiscal revenue was RMB 5.29 billion (US$ 868 million). The annual growth rate is above 14%. The key strategic project in Nanchong City is Sichuan Shengda's PTA, polyester and nylon series of projects, for which the total investment is RMB 4.3 billion (US$ 70 million). Now being implemented alongside Sichuan Shengda in the NCIP are a project to produce 13 Mt/year of 1,4-butanediol for Chongqing Heyou Alkali Amine Industry Co Ltd, with a total investment of RMB 2.1 billion (US$ 34 million), and a series of projects to produce phthalic anhydride plasticizers for Taiwan Union Chemical Technology Co Ltd, with the total investment of RMB 1.2 billion (US$ 197 million). ProjecT beNefITs Since Sichuan Shengda directly discharges its PTA wastewater to the WWTP, the plant will have to treat the high concentration wastewater to the required quality standard - 1A Discharge Standard of Pollutants for Municipal Wastewater Plant (GB18918-2002) before discharging into the Jialing river. Because the petrochemical industry is also a high pollution industry, the WWTP will play an important role in preventing water pollution and protecting the cities further downstream on the Jialing river. The river, which runs through Nanchong City, is the largest branch of the Yangtze river, and its quality reaches Class III of the Surface Water Standard. In addition, the mega-city of Chongqing is located downstream from NCIP and the environmental protection of NCIP therefore directly affects the quality of the drinking water source for the city. The operational effect and efficiency of the WWTP will also directly influence the stable operation and profitability of the Shengda PTA Plant. Some 60% of the wastewater will be recycled, which can save up to 10,200 m3/d of fresh water. WWTP Process Design capacity The design capacity of this project is 17,000 m3/d, including wastewater from PTA, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) devices, cooling wastewater, wash water, initial rainwater and domestic wastewater. | 22 | Desalination & Water Reuse | November-December 2013

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