The fifth meeting of the China-France Entrepreneurs Committee. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
At the fifth meeting of the China-France Entrepreneurs Committee, an affiliated event to French President Emmanuel Macron's visit to China, representatives from China and France signed a cooperative agreement for the Wanhua Chemical's Penglai Industrial Park seawater desalination project.
Among the 18 cooperation agreements in fields such as green technology, innovation, aviation and energy, Penglai is a model project of energy and environmental protection signed during the event.
Wanhua Chemical's Yantai Industrial Park. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
Wanhua Chemical's Penglai Industrial Park will be the seventh industrial park of Wanhua Chemical globally. It is committed to building itself into a chemical industrial base that integrates fine chemical, petrochemical and high-end new energy materials. Moreover, it incorporates the concepts of green chemistry and environmental protection into project and daily operation.
As an important supporting project of Penglai Industrial Park, the Penglai seawater desalination project planned a land area of 56,000 square meters and a construction area of 23,000 sq m. It contains six process areas: water intake, coagulation and sedimentation, filtration, sludge treatment, water product and power distribution. Once completed, the first phase will be able to produce 100,000 metric tons of desalinated water per day.
Shanghai Civil Engineering of CREC, Wanhua Chemical and France's Suez Environment are the three parties in the project. The project will build upon the long-term partnerships between all three parties, save scarce freshwater resources and enhance local water ecosystems. This will help Wanhua advance its development toward an eco-friendly model.
Suez, as one of the world's leading water and environmental service companies, will provide Wanhua with technical services such as procedure design, equipment and installation services.
The company said that this project is the largest industrial seawater desalination project undertaken by it so far. Together with Shanghai Civil Engineering of CREC's strong construction capabilities, the Penglai Industrial Park is to have an overall planned seawater desalination capacity of 300,000 tons per day in the future.
Liao Zengtai, chairman of Wanhua Chemical expressed his delight at the signing ceremony. He said: "I am very pleased to see that our past cooperation with Suez has become a huge success. Suez is an outstanding company and their professional technics and excellent customer services have made great contributions to the success and development of many of Wanhua's projects. I hope this can become another landmark project."
Wanhua Chemical Global R&D Center and Headquarter. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
As a global chemical new materials company, Wanhua Chemical relies on innovation in core technologies, industrial equipment and efficient operating models to provide customers with more competitive products and solutions.
Adhering to the philosophy of "Advancing Chemistry, Transforming Lives!", Wanhua Chemical has explored new models in environmental protection. Currently, the company has made a handful of attempts in the comprehensive management of water resources.
In the field of water reuse, Wanhua Chemical employs various advanced processes such as reverse osmosis and ultrafiltration to concentrate the treatment of reclaimed water. About 73 percent of reclaimed water is reused in its parks.
One particular example is MDI waste brine circulation technology, which won the Chemical Week 2022's award nomination for sustainable development. Industrial waste brine has been a major challenge in global chlorine and sodium-consuming industries, due to its high impurity and complex composition. While this technology has opened up a new frontier for the zero discharge of waste brine in the isocyanate industry, with advantages such as efficient waste utilization, zero discharge, simple process and stable treatment results. The total amount of recycled waste brine reaches about 3 million tons and a reduction of carbon dioxide emissions exceeding 140,000 tons per year.
As for waste water treatment, a facility was set up at Yantai Industrial Park, covering an area of 18.7 hectares. The water is sent to the park's recycled water station for replenishment, Currently, it serves Yantai Industrial Park with a total processing capacity of nearly 4,000 cubic meters per hour and the total recovery rate can reach 75 percent.
In this case, representatives of the three parties agreed that they will use the project as an opportunity to leverage their respective strengths in the field of seawater desalination; deepen research on the integrated utilization of seawater desalination technology; strengthen technological exchanges and cooperation; and achieve advantages through resource integration and industrial linkage. Together, they will work to promote China's ecological transformation.
The three parties have also expressed an intention to broaden cooperation in fields on the basis of the agreement, establish a platform for the exchange of talent, technology, and resources, in a bid to create high-quality brands and boutique projects under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative and boost high-level opening-up.
About Wanhua Chemical. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
Wanhua Chemical Group is among the global leading suppliers of chemical innovative products and has been adhering to sustainable developments. By continually optimizing its industrial structure, its business covers four major industrial clusters: polyurethane, petrochemicals, fine chemicals and advanced materials. Wanhua Chemical serves various industries such as daily life and household, sports and leisure, automotive and transportation, construction and green energy.
It has six production bases and factories located in Yantai, Ningbo, Sichuan, Fujian, and Zhuhai, forming a robust production and operating network, as well as serving 144 countries and regions worldwide.
