"The daily processing capacity of the first phase of sludge is 300 tons, and the second phase is also 300 tons, but we only need three workers to complete these tasks, and the machinery and equipment here are fully automatic." A worker proudly introduces her work, she has been working here for ten years and has some experience in sludge disposal, and the company she belongs to, Suzhou Industrial Park Sino-French Environmental Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Sino-French Environment), has a richer business and history in sludge disposal.
The sludge from the sewage plant is fed to the sludge plant discharge storage area, where it is transported to the first stage of drying equipment, a thin layer evaporator, where steam indirectly heats the solids content of these wet sludge from 20% to 40-45% and then automatically falls into the chopper. The sludge strips extruded by the shredder will be heated and cooled in the two-stage belt dryer, and then sent to the coal shed and mixed with coal for incineration power generation in thermal power plants, which is a cyclical work scene in the Sino-French environment every day in the past 10 years.
Sino-French Environment is a joint venture between SUEZ Group and Sino-Singapore Suzhou Industrial Park Municipal Public Utilities Development Group Co., Ltd., and the sludge disposal and resource utilization project of Suzhou Industrial Park operated by it has celebrated its 10th anniversary in April 2021. As a model of circular economy, the project experience has been successfully extended to Yangzhou, Jiangsu, Suzhou Xiangcheng and other places, successfully improving the ability of cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt to dispose of sludge, and supporting all localities to protect water resources in the Yangtze River Basin.
It's time to focus on sludge disposal
In the environmental knowledge of ordinary people, sewage treatment has long been heard, but little is known about sludge treatment.
According to the data, sludge is mainly produced with sewage treatment, which is mainly divided into two categories: municipal sludge and industrial sludge. Among them, urban sewage treatment plants are the main source of municipal sludge and belong to general solid waste. Sludge treatment, as the last link in sewage treatment, has only been valued since 2007. Before 2007, the vast majority of industrial and municipal sludge was pulled to landfills. However, the sludge is enriched with pollutants in sewage, containing a large number of nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus, as well as toxic and harmful substances such as organic matter, viral microorganisms, parasite eggs, heavy metals, etc., which will cause serious harm to the environment if it is not effectively treated and disposed of.
"In 2008, we negotiated with Suzhou Industrial Park to establish a Sino-foreign joint venture company, with a Chinese-controlled, foreign-managed model, using SUEZ's technology, determined to make this project a national benchmark." Yue Bao, director of Suez China's sludge business, told the 21st Century Business Herald that the purpose of the Suzhou Industrial Park Sludge Disposal and Resource Utilization Project was to solve the sludge of the sewage plant in Suzhou Industrial Park, and it has been a full decade since its completion on April 15, 2011, "In this decade, we have processed 1.15 million tons of sludge." After our plant was put into operation, all the sludge generated in Suzhou Industrial Park was treated here, and there had never been an accident in 10 years, and 1.15 million tons of sludge, we increased its solids content from 18% to about 80%, and the average energy consumption was very low, because it was a refined management method. ”
Yue Bao introduced that the project has generated about 300,000 tons of dry sludge, which is equivalent to providing 110,000 tons of standard coal for power plants, reducing carbon dioxide emissions caused by coal burning by 280,000 tons, and saving 100 hectares of sludge landfill landfill. Its operational stability and energy consumption levels are industry-leading, consuming only 0.63 tons of waste heat steam per ton of wet sludge, 40% lower than other similar processes.
In fact, at present, the scale of sewage treatment in China has ranked first in the world, but compared with sewage treatment, the capacity and level of sludge treatment are seriously lagging behind. According to the E20 Research Institute, China's urban wet sludge production in 2019 was close to 50 million tons, nearly twice that of 2010, and the average compound growth rate of 10 years from 2010 to 2019 reached 7.3%. However, due to China's long-term "heavy water and light sludge", sludge treatment and disposal has not been upgraded synchronously with sewage treatment, and the problem of sludge treatment and disposal has not been effectively solved, and the situation is very grim.
In order to accelerate the promotion of sludge treatment and disposal, the state has given great support in terms of policy.
In April 2015, the State Council issued the Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Water Pollution (the "Ten Water Articles"), which clearly stated that it was necessary to promote the treatment and disposal of sludge. "The sludge produced by sewage treatment facilities should be stabilized, harmless and resource-based, and it is forbidden to treat and dispose of sludge that does not meet the standards into the cultivated land." Illegal sludge dumps are banned. The existing sludge treatment and disposal facilities should be basically completed by the end of 2017, and the harmless treatment and disposal rate of urban sludge at the prefectural level and above should reach more than 90% by the end of 2020. ”
In 2017, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development jointly issued the "13th Five-Year Plan for the Construction of National Urban Sewage Treatment and Recycling Facilities", which requires the construction of urban sewage treatment facilities to change from "heavy water and light mud" to "equal emphasis on muddy water"; in 2020, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development jointly issued the "Implementation Plan for The Strength and Weakness of Urban Domestic Sewage Treatment Facilities", which also clearly proposed to promote the harmless resource treatment and disposal of sludge.
Yue Bao was deeply touched by this, "When we talked about this project in 2008, China's sludge treatment industry was still growing barbarically, and after more than ten years of development, the national policy has undergone great changes. In particular, the policy clarifies the responsibility and financial obligations of local governments for the final safe disposal of sewage treatment and sludge disposal, that is, if it is due to the cost of sludge disposal, it should be financially bottomed. Therefore, the sludge industry in Jiangsu is doing well in the front of the country, in fact, it is guaranteed by these policies and charging mechanisms. ”
Utilization of a circular economy in industrial synergy
Dai Xiaohu, a professor at Tongji University who has long been committed to sludge treatment research, pointed out in February 2021 that "China's sludge treatment and disposal needs to take harmlessness as the goal, take resources as a means, vigorously develop technologies for efficient recovery and utilization of energy and resources in sludge (biomass clean energy, nitrogen and phosphorus, etc.), and achieve the efficient recovery of energy resources in sludge, realize the stabilization or efficient removal of pollutants in sludge, improve the safety of subsequent utilization of sludge treatment products, and solve the final problem of sludge." ”
Just as the so-called "organic in danger", the harmless disposal of sludge is gradually forming an industry, and the continuous improvement of the policy system of the sludge treatment and disposal industry and the progress of technology will help accelerate the release of market demand and bring more investment opportunities.
This is an industry full of business opportunities, Tianfeng Securities research report predicts that "during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the market space for the harmless disposal of sludge is 92.2 billion yuan, which is released year by year in five years, with an average of about 20 billion yuan per year, increasing year by year." ”
More importantly, the sludge disposal and resource utilization project in Suzhou Industrial Park has realized the linkage and strong industrial synergy effect of sludge drying plant, thermal power plant and sewage treatment plant. Adopting a recycling and zero-emission model to convert sludge into resources and mitigate climate change, this industrial synergy circular economy project has been recognized by all parties.
The "Water Ten Articles" clearly point out that the charging standards for urban sewage treatment should not be lower than the cost of sewage treatment and sludge treatment and disposal. Subsequent measures for the administration of the collection and use of sewage treatment fees also clearly stated that "sludge treatment costs will be included in the sewage treatment fees".
Yue Bao told the 21st Century Business Herald reporter that with the improvement of policies and regulations, the level of participating enterprises is getting higher and higher, "I firmly believe that the next 5-10 years is the golden period of China's sludge industry." ”
According to the research data of Tianfeng Securities, the 13th Five-Year Plan aims to reach 97,500 tons / day of harmless sludge disposal capacity by 2020, assuming that the sludge production growth rate in 2019-2020 is 11% and 10%, then the sludge output at the end of 2020 will be 226,300 tons / day, and the proportion of sludge harmless disposal will be 43%. "Considering the policy strength of sludge disposal to make up for shortcomings and the urgency of sludge disposal, we assume that during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the proportion of harmless sludge disposal will increase to 90%, the growth rate of sludge production will decrease year by year, and by 2025, the sludge harmless disposal capacity should reach 285,600 tons / day, with an average annual compound growth rate of 23.89%."
According to the data of E20 researchers, China's sludge production (80% moisture content) increased from 25.12 million tons in 2010 to 45.14 million tons in 2018, with an average annual compound growth rate of 7.60%. The research report of Guohai Securities pointed out that with a compound growth rate of 7.60%, by 2020, China's municipal sludge production will be 52.26 million tons, and it will reach 75.38 million tons in 2025. "As the awareness of local governments begins to shift to 'equal emphasis on sludge and water', coupled with the current policy high pressure, we believe that the short board of sludge disposal will be strengthened, and the construction of sludge disposal during the '14th Five-Year Plan' period is expected to accelerate, we assume that by 2025, the harmless treatment rate of sludge will reach 95%, and it is calculated that by the '14th Five-Year Plan' period, the market space for new sludge treatment projects will be 48.697 billion yuan, and the operation will be 85.167 billion yuan, totaling 133.864 billion yuan."
However, Yue Bao also admitted that sludge treatment is a very special industry, with obvious cyclical characteristics, "March to May is the peak period, but in the winter it may only be half of the output." At present, China's sludge industry is actually in an era of 'Spring and Autumn Warring States', too many enterprises and technologies involved in the market are too complex, I believe that after 5 to 10 years of big waves, there will be some low-end or some small enterprises or technologies are eliminated. ”
Based on ten years of successful experience, SUEZ successfully copied the Suzhou Industrial Park sludge disposal project to Yangzhou in 2016, and recently expanded its second phase of the project [invested, constructed and operated by the cooperative company Yangzhou Sino-French Environment Co., Ltd.), with a daily increase of 200 tons of treatment capacity to meet the rapidly growing local sludge treatment and disposal needs, when the total daily treatment capacity will reach 500 tons.
Fan Xiaojun, Senior Vice President of SUEZ Asia, said: "China's first comprehensive watershed management law, the Yangtze River Protection Law, was officially implemented in March, and the protection of the Yangtze River needs to be jointly promoted by the government and enterprises along the Yangtze River. As a founding member of the Yangtze River Ecological and Environmental Protection Industry Alliance, SUEZ is nearly 60% of the 19 provinces and cities in the Yangtze River Basin, accounting for 57.8%. Cities along the Yangtze River provide innovative solutions for water and solid waste resource management, and look forward to working with more coastal cities to promote high-quality development in the Yangtze River Economic Belt. ”
It is undeniable that the sludge industry is one of the directions of the national environmental protection short board, but with the continuous increase of policy efforts, the charging mechanism tends to be perfect, and the sludge "nugget" is about to usher in a period of rapid development.
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