Promoting Shanghai Chemical Industry Park to achieve economic growth and environmental protection concurrently
In China, there has been growing demand for specialized and centralized environmental management services in the last two decades. Industrial clusters and industrial parks represent an effective means of solving the contradiction between industrial development and environmental protection. However, industrial parks consume a large amount of energy and resources, and their environmental treatment needs can be sophisticated, from technology to management control. In 2002, SUEZ began providing integrated water and wastewater treatment services in Shanghai Chemical Industry Park (“SCIP”), one of the world’s leading petrochemical parks. The following year, SUEZ expanded the scope of services to include hazardous waste disposal. In 2020, SUEZ and SCIP teamed up with SAIC Motor to invest in and build a new hazardous waste disposal facility. Additionally, we jointly developed artificial wetland, and pursue R&D with SCIP in the Park.
The mission
To help position SCIP as the world’s best model of ecological protection and circular economy
Situated in southern Shanghai and north of the Hangzhou Bay, SCIP is one of China’s seven major petrochemical industrial bases and the country’s first state-level specialized chemical park. SCIP currently manages an area of 29.4 km2 and is home to some of the best-known Chinese and international chemical companies such as Sinopec, BASF, Covestro, Evonik, Huntsman, Mitsubishi Gas Chemical, and Mitsui Chemicals.
Given the diverse mix of companies with different characteristics and the large scale of production in SCIP, environmental treatment can be an immense challenge: chemical companies consume a substantial volume of water and generate a large amount of highly-concentrated wastewater and waste, of which, there may be many types of hazardous waste that can be prone to reactions. A world-class industrial park such as SCIP recognizes the importance of integrated design and management. Therefore, from the outset of the partnership, SUEZ has been involved in the development planning of SCIP. We provide SCIP not only with technology, but also sustainable, holistic solutions that help SCIP better determine which companies are the best fit for the park.
Our solution
Providing integrated solutions for SCIP: water supply, wastewater treatment, waste disposal, and environmental management services
Potential sources of pollution in industrial parks include wastewater, waste, and flue gases generated during combustion. In order to help SCIP become a global leader in ecological protection and circular economy, SUEZ designed and co-invested with SCIP in state-of-the-art centralized water supply, wastewater treatment, and hazardous waste incineration and disposal facilities. Operated by experienced staff backed by the expertise of SUEZ, the facilities provide the Park’s petrochemical industries with safe, reliable, and cost-effective solutions for their effluents and hazardous waste.
SCIP’s integrated model is highly demanding on the operator. The operator has to accommodate the needs of different enterprises and at the same time meet the management objectives of the park. Over the past 20 years, SUEZ checked all these boxes of competitive advantages. The success of our JVs is a strong proof of the choice we made at the time.
Zhu Jian
,
Vice President of SCIP Development Co., Ltd. and Chairman of the Board of SCIP Water and Waste joint ventures
Industrial water treatment services to drive the recycling of water resources
We operate water treatment facilities in SCIP covering the industrial, domestic, and demineralized water supply and wastewater collection and treatment. Our wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) enables separate collection and treatment for each customer’s wastewater stream; quality-linked treatment; and full-cycle, real-time monitoring of water quality.
Our WWTP also includes emergency treatment protocols. The WWTP has a treatment capacity of 44,500 m3/day and can handle a wide range of wastewater, including wastewater rich in organic matter and high in minerals. Part of the treated effluents are processed into demineralized water for reuse by the companies to reduce wastewater discharge.
Hazardous waste disposal services to recover energy and lead in the circular economy
With hazardous waste management, the facility we built and operate in SCIP is one of the largest hazardous waste incineration projects in Asia, with a combined capacity of 160,000 tons/year from four incineration treatment lines. We implemented a strict classification and management process so that we can quickly identify risk factors at the source and develop corresponding pre-treatment plans, ensuring that each type of waste has a unique ID. Since our hazardous waste treatment facilities went online in SCIP, we have set up more than 15,000 hazardous waste IDs to ensure full-process transparency, traceability, and safe and timely disposal.
Our incinerators follow European emission standards, which are the most stringent in the world. Our energy recovery units use the heat generated by incineration to produce steam, effectively reducing carbon emissions.
Artificial wetland - “Based on nature and gives back to nature”
In 2017, we adopted SUEZ’s patented technology for an artificial wetland project in SCIP. This is the first project in a Chinese industrial park that uses the Zone Libellule® technology to treat industrial wastewater. The expanded wetland covers an area of more than 50 hectares and is populated with coastal, salt-tolerant plants. The wetland acts as a purifying agent to further treat the high-salinity tailwater that is generated by the wastewater treatment plant.
This process, considered a typical nature-based solution, uses nature’s biological purification properties to treat industrial wastewater, while at the same time providing an ecological habitat for the local flora and fauna. It is truly “based on nature and gives back to nature”.
To maintain our technological advantage, we established a Water Research Centre(SWRc) and a Waste R&D Center with SCIP to support the development of related businesses, drive the application of new technologies and processes, and promote the enablement of digital and smart solutions – ensuring that treatment technologies and management practices conform to advanced international standards. The SWRc focuses on treatability studies of industrial wastewater, recovery of treated industrial effluents, and research on sludge reduction treatment, while the Waste R&D Center develops innovative solutions for hazardous waste recycling and disposal, with a focus on improved waste-to-energy recovery, process optimization, and industrial standardization.
The results
Our water project in SCIP was named “outperformer in environmental protection in the national petrochemical industry”, while both water and waste management projects have been included in China’s national list of “replicable case studies of third-party environmental treatment solutions in industrial parks”, playing a positive role as a leading demonstration in the industry.
A portion of the wastewater is treated by the WWTP to produce demineralized water for reuse by the companies, saving 2 million m3 of water annually.
The hazardous waste treatment plant recycles the steam generated during the treatment process and supplies it to industrial customers, saving 72,000 tons of standard coal per year, equivalent to the reduction of around 189,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions from coal combustion.
While promoting the adoption of new technologies and solutions and the growth of promising start-ups in the industry, the SWRc and Waste R&D Center have incubated research and development results and protected intellectual property, receiving over 60 patents to date.
Throughout our 20-year journey of cooperation, we have helped SCIP not only achieve the goal of reducing the total amount of pollutants, but we have also made positive contributions to ecological and environmental protection, allowing SCIP to top the list of the top 30 chemical parks in China for many consecutive years.
300,000
m3/day
industrial water supply capacity
44,500
m3/day
industrial wastewater treatment capacity
2
million m3/year
water resource saved
160,000
tons/year
hazardous waste treatment capacity
72,000
tons/year
standard coal saved
~189,000
tons/year
carbon dioxide emissions from coal combustion saved
