Name: Tan Yit Zen

Matrics Number: BK09110015

Date of Submission: 16/11/2011

Title: Case study on cleaner production: Practice (Shouguang Alcohol Factory (SAF), East China)

I.

Induction to Cleaner Production (CP) The strategy of cleaner production (CP) was formulated and launched by United Nation Environment

Program (UNEP) in a conference in Canterbury in the year of 1990. Since then, cleaner production has adopted worldwide and applied in different ways, and have shown a noteworthy ability to combine many of the ideas that developed over the last decade in environmental management. Previously, in 1970s, UNEP was emphasized against pollution abatement where emissions and effluents were treated to satisfy certain requirements before discharged to the environment. During that period, 3Ps concept was used by UNEP and it stood for the polluter pays principle which emphasis on end of pipe solution in the period of 1975-1989, where major industrialized countries were reported spent billions of dollars on industrial pollution mitigation activities such as purchasing and maintaining the treatment technologies. However, this same term do applied after the year of 1989 but it stands for pollution prevention pays due to stringent legislation has declared at the mid-1970s on the use of chemical. (El-Kholy, 2002) Based on the official definition released by UNEP, cleaner production (CP) signify continuous application of an integrated, preventive environmental strategy to processes, products and services to increase efficiency and reduce risks to humans and the environment. (Mohr-Swart, Coetzee, & Blignaut) Another definition of CP was given by Johanes Freshner at year of 1998 is CP is a preventive strategy to minimize the impact of production and products on the environment. In his worksheet, he mentioned that the principal players of CP are the companies, which control the production processes. The companies are greatly influenced by their customers and politics. However, the main focus of CP is always the same which is to create cognizance for pollution prevention, to find the source of wastes and emissions, and later delineate a program or process to reduce emissions and increase resource efficiency by implementing and documenting Cleaner production options. Some examples of practical approach of CP is good housekeeping with materials, process modifications to minimize the waste and emissions, internal recycling, and etc. Besides pollution prevention, another advantage that holds by CP is it contributes to the model of sustainable development in a company level as sustainable development does not allow an economy that ruins valuable natural capital. (Fresner, 1998)

II.

Business Background Alcohol industry has been one of the main contributors to the China economy. However, it caused

impairment of the ambient environment and adverse impacts on the local community. The company being emphasis here is the Shougang Alcohol Factory (SAF). This factory was founded in June 1945. It is one of the oldest alcohol companies in China and it located at Shougang Economic Deveopment Zone of Shandong Province, East China. It occupied a large land area of 470 km2. It employed a total of 1500 workers including 260 technicians. This factory was able to produce 50,000 tons tipple per year and has an alcohol production capacity of 10,000 tons. The flow diagram in Figure 1.0 has shown the principle procedures of its alcohol production of this factory. (Guo, Chen, Yu, Huang, Liu, & Nie, 2004) III. Environment Issues Related to Company In general, after material balance and process analysis have done by experts before the year of 1997, the estimated conditions of water consumption and waste discharge of this factory were identified. From the liquid wastes aspect, approximately 55.8 x 104 tons of washing water is directly discharged to Zhangzeng River annually. Besides washing water, approximate 71.4 % of 10.5 x 104 tons of liquid alcohol lees is generated was discharged to the water bodies annually. During that period, it was found that over 400 tons of organic wastewater with a extremely high chemical oxygen demand (COD) concentration (could reach 3.8 x 104 mg/L) was drained continuously to the ambient water bodies per day after simple treatment process. From the solid waste aspect, over 5000 tons of distilled spirit lees with 50-60 % moisture content are generated each year. Lastly, from the gaseous wastes aspect, 1.06 x 108 m3 of waste gas is emitted from the industry boilers per year which this included approximately 4.9 x 106 m3 of carbon dioxide (CO2) is generated during fermentation process where such gas is emitted to the atmosphere as greenhouse gas without effective air pollution control. (Guo, Chen, Yu, Huang, Liu, & Nie, 2004) IV. Traditional Approach versus Options of Cleaner Production Strategies After the survey have done on 14 typical alcohol factories and questionnaires by related experts, there are five group of cleaner production technologies are being deliberated to design the suitable CP options for SAF. The five CP considerations are good housekeeping, raw materials enhancement, technology adjustment, product changes and reuse or recycling. The principle screening processes and related criteria for CP options are illustrated in Figure 2.0 and Table 1.0 respectively in the appendices. (Guo, Chen, Yu, Huang, Liu, & Nie, 2004)
2

After the screening procedures, four integrated cleaner production options recommended by H.C Guo et al are illustrated in Table 2.0 of the appendices. Based on the evaluation done by H.C. Guo et al., a two-stage implementation plan was designed which in first stage, it combined option 1,3 and 4 and launched in the year of 1997. Parts of the profits gained from 1st stage after been used for 1 year, 2nd stage of integrated CP plan was launched (option 2). (Guo, Chen, Yu, Huang, Liu, & Nie, 2004) The first CP option that proposed by H.C. Guo et al and has employed by SAF is the use thicker wort (higher concentration of saccharified wort) in fermentation process. In most alcohol factories in China includes SAF, the usual concentration of saccharified wort that used is 14.5 BX0 with a ration of 1:3.5 (feed to water) which eventually produced the alcohol concentration of 7.5-8.5% V/V. However, if thicker wort fermentation technique is utilized, the ration of feed to water can be controlled as low as 1:2.8 but the concentration of wort that had to use is 18 BX0 and can yield alcohol degree up to 10-11 V/V. Hence, this reduced the water consumption during feed mixing and the dosage of resources as the concentration of saccharified wort has increased. As the water consumption is lower, less gas will be consumed during distillation and digestion processes, follows by reduction of the amount of cooling water in the subsequent processes such as cooking, saccharification, fermentation and distillation. Thus, this will reduce the amount of generated waste significantly. (Guo, Chen, Yu, Huang, Liu, & Nie, 2004) The second CP option that suggested by H.C. Guo (start implemented by SAF at 1998) is reusing CO2 gas (approximately 7500 tons of CO2 produced annually through the fermentation process of saccharified wort). Previously, SAF just directly discharged CO2 out to the ambient atmosphere and had caused major air pollution issues in China. In this CP option, SAF uses reclaimed CO2 from the factory to produce high purity of CO2 byproducts into 3 major forms (solid, liquid, gas). The flow diagram of principle processes of option 2 is illustrated in Figure 3.0 in appendices. (Guo, Chen, Yu, Huang, Liu, & Nie, 2004) The third option is reconstructing distillation system. Previously, SAF uses the two-tower halfdistillation under normal pressure to produce tipple but it consumes huge amount of steam and cooling water which is estimated over the necessary level and caused other associated pollution. Hence, a more advanced technique has to be implemented which is adopting a four-tower differential pressure distillation to substitute the previous system. By applying the new system, the waste heat produced from each tower can be used efficiently for high quality producing technique that improved product quality, reduce resources expenditure and pollution mitigations. (Guo, Chen, Yu, Huang, Liu, & Nie, 2004)

The fourth option is produce organic fertilizer and methane from alcohol lees liquid. As mentioned earlier, approximately 10.5 x 104 tons of lees liquid are produced annually during alcohol production where most of them were discharged in traditional approach of SAF. However, this option provides a better, economywise approach which is utilize waste liquid lees to produce methane and organic fertilizer as high COD concentration (approximately 3.8 x 104 mg/L) is the best resources to produce methane. Then, the digestion liquid discharged by the anaerobic treatment of methane production which contains abundant element of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) that suitable act as raw material to produce high-quality agriculture organic fertilizers. The flow diagram of the principle processes of option 4 is shown in Figure 4.0 in appendices. (Guo, Chen, Yu, Huang, Liu, & Nie, 2004)

V.

Overall Effects of Two-stage Implementation Plan on SAF Based on the systematic characterization and analysis in SAF, option 1, 3 and 4 were combined into 1st

stage of an integrated cleaner production system and has implemented since 1997. Compared with individual option implementation, such integrated system able to generate more benefits such as save more water and energy, and reduce more wastes. At the same time, productivity and quality of alcohol can be improved and more economic profits can be gained from methane and agriculturally useful fertilizer. According to the statistic analysis from March 21, 1997 to June 30, 1997, the discharged wastewater and COD per ton alcohol were 60.4 tons and 211 kg, which were 2.6% and 15.6% lower than the planned values. The consumption of water and coal per ton alcohol was 63.4 tons and 668kg which are 0.94% and 0.3% lower than the planned values. The amount of pollutants generated by the production was reduced by over 5% and the pollution burden of COD was declined by over 27%. (Guo, Chen, Yu, Huang, Liu, & Nie, 2004)

VI.

Benefits of Cleaner Production Options to SAF After implemented the 1st option as suggested above, approximately 63 tons of processing water has

saved per day and reduced the steam consumption to 5.4 tons per ton alcohol with a reduction ratio of 18%. Besides, the discharge of associate pollutants is decreased significantly as less wastewater will be produced compare with the traditional approach. On the other hand, by employing the 2nd option, over 2000 tons of CO2 can be reclaimed per year. Hence, this can avoid global climate change due to large discharge of greenhouse gases to atmosphere. Plus, it also added extra income which is expected up to 94000 USD annually to SAF. (Guo, Chen, Yu, Huang, Liu, & Nie, 2004)

On the other hand, after employed the 3rd option, SAF has utilized the excess heat energy gained from each distillation towers efficiently for higher product quality improvement techniques. Besides, it also accounted a saving of 30% steam and cooling water which has cut down the amount of waste gas, wastewater and boiler dregs that discharged from the factory. For example, it is found that the amount of waste lees liquid generated has reduced to 12-14 tons per unit product and consumption of steam has reduced to a lower level of 46 tons/ tons of alcohol. On the other hand, after implemented option 4, SAF able to produce over 20 m3 of methane per ton of waste lees liquid. Annually, approximately 6000 tons of lees liquid can be reclaimed and 1500 tons of coal has saved. In addition, the digest liquid after methane production (contains numerous organic and inorganic components) can be used to produce 5500 tons of organic fertilizer per year by undergoes processes such as depositing, air floating, concentrating, and flocculation. In short, this option has caused the discharge of COD and BOD5 decreased greatly where the reduction of COD content in the wastewater is up to 80%, which mitigated the associated pollution that caused by alcohol lees liquid. Furthermore, this option has improved the environmental quality in the surrounding regions by reducing the consumption of non-renewable source (coal) and reduces the amount and concentration of hazardous compounds in the wastewater discharged from SAF.to the water bodies of Zhangzeng River (Guo, Chen, Yu, Huang, Liu, & Nie, 2004)

VII.

Conclusion In the nutshell, it is not doubt that alcohol industry has been proved as one of the industries which

consume large amount of water and energy, produce numerous organic pollutants, and cause serious pollution to the environment. For example, the annual discharge of wastewater can approach 0.3 billion m3 in China and over 1.15 million tons of BOD and 2.2 million tons of COD has released to the environment which occupies 18.0% and 12.5% of total industrial discharge of China. However, after a two-stages integrated system of four cleaner productions was introduced, implemented in SAF (one of the alcohol factory in China) for 4 years, significant results has shown in term of surrounding environmental quality, economy-efficiency, productivity and quality of the products of SAF throughout the 4 years of implementation period. (Guo, Chen, Yu, Huang, Liu, & Nie, 2004) Hence, this has provided a good evidence that cleaner production is able to provide a better environment for our future generation through pollution prevention concept; hence more studies need to be done in cleaner production for the sake of our future generation as this case study only shows parts of the cleaner production efforts on conserving the beauty of mother earth. Therefore, every single human being should start our own effort today and being one of the people that support cleaner production strategy that introduced by UNEP because every single effort we put in is showing our love towards the nature..
5

VIII.

Reference / Bibliography
An introduction to environmental auditing. (1996). Retrieved November 8, 2011, from Scottish Natural Herittage: http://www.snh.org.uk/publications/on-line/advisorynotes/45/45.htm Davis, M. l., & Cornwell, D. A. (2008). Introduction to Environemtal Engineering. Singapore: McGrawHill Education. El-Kholy, O. A. (2002). Cleaner Production. In T. Munn, Encyclopedia of Global Environmental Change (pp. 1-4). New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Fresner, J. (1998). Cleaner Production as a means for effective environmental management. Journal of Cleaner Production , 6, 171-179. Guo, H., Chen, B., Yu, X., Huang, G., Liu, L., & Nie, X. (2004). Assessment of cleaner production options for alcohol industry of China: a study in Shouguang Alcohol Factory. Journal of Cleaner Production , 14, 94-103. Jovanovic, J., Jovanovic, M., Jovanovic, A., & Marinovic, V. (2010). Introduction of cleaner production in the tank farm of the Pancevo Oil Refinery, Serbia. Journal of Cleaner Production , 18, 791-798. Mohr-Swart, M., Coetzee, E., & Blignaut, J. (n.d.). Sustainable Development in the South Africa Mining Industry: The Role of Cleaner Production and EMA. Journal of Cleaner Production , 165-192. What does EOP stand for? (n.d.). Retrieved November 8, 2011, from Acroynmfinder: http://www.acronymfinder.com/End-of-Pipe-(EOP).html

IX.

Appendices

Figure 1.0: Flow diagram of principle procedures for alcohol production in the Shouguang Alcohol Factory (SAF). (Retrieved from Guo, H., Chen, B., Yu, X., Huang, G., Liu, L., & Nie, X. (2004). Assessment of cleaner production options for alcohol industry of China: a study in Shouguang Alcohol Factory. Journal of Cleaner Production , 14, 94-103, at 8 November 2011.)

Figure 2.0: The screening process for CP options for SAF. (Retrieved from Guo, H., Chen, B., Yu, X., Huang, G., Liu, L., & Nie, X. (2004). Assessment of cleaner production options for alcohol industry of China: a study in Shouguang Alcohol Factory. Journal of Cleaner Production , 14, 94-103, at 8 November 2011.) 7

Table 1.0: Criterions for screening CP options for SAF. (Retrieved from Guo, H., Chen, B., Yu, X., Huang, G., Liu, L., & Nie, X. (2004). Assessment of cleaner production options for alcohol industry of China: a study in Shouguang Alcohol Factory. Journal of Cleaner Production , 14, 94-103, at 8 November 2011.)

Table 2.0: Introduction of four cleaner production options to SAF. (Retrieved from Guo, H., Chen, B., Yu, X., Huang, G., Liu, L., & Nie, X. (2004). Assessment of cleaner production options for alcohol industry of China: a study in Shouguang Alcohol Factory. Journal of Cleaner Production , 14, 94-103, at 8 November 2011.)

Figure 3.0: The principle process flow diagram of option 2. (Retrieved from Guo, H., Chen, B., Yu, X., Huang, G., Liu, L., & Nie, X. (2004). Assessment of cleaner production options for alcohol industry of China: a study in Shouguang Alcohol Factory. Journal of Cleaner Production , 14, 94-103, at 8 November 2011.)

Figure 4.0: The principle process flow diagram of option 4. (Retrieved from Guo, H., Chen, B., Yu, X., Huang, G., Liu, L., & Nie, X. (2004). Assessment of cleaner production options for alcohol industry of China: a study in Shouguang Alcohol Factory. Journal of Cleaner Production , 14, 94-103, at 8 November 2011.)

10