Richeast WWT Methane Recovery Project

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China

Industrial Wastewater Treatment and Methane Recovery

Expertise

Climate action project development

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Industrial Wastewater Treatment and Methane Recovery

Key facts

Location

Linyi City, Shandong Province, China
Project Type

Renewable energy – Wastewater Treatment
Annual GHG Emissions Reduction

71,000 tCO₂e

Project Standard

CDM
Project IDs

CDM 5879
Status

Registered and with issuance of CERs

Factsheet (English)

Background

The “Methane Recovery and Utilization Project of Shandong Richeast Biotechnology Co., Ltd. in Wastewater Treatment” is developed by the Shandong Richeast Biotechnology Co., Ltd. It is a wastewater methane recovery, electricity generation and heat production project located in Linyi City, Shandong Province, in the People’s Republic of China.

The project is implemented as a new facility (Greenfield project), which was started in July 2008. It produces about 50,000 tonnes/year of alcohol from cassava, and generates about 1,500 m3/day of wastewater containing as much as 50,000mg/L of COD.

In the absence of the project activity, the most common and cost-effective measures for wastewater treatment, electricity utilization and heat production for the alcohol industry in this region, namely, an open anaerobic lagoon, purchasing electricity from grid and the heat provided by a coal-fired boiler, would be taken.

Therefore, the project will reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through avoidance of methane emissions to the atmosphere from wastewater treatment in open lagoons and a reduction of fossil fuel consumption.

Project Description

The Shandong Richeast WWT Methane Recovery Project will install UASB and IC reactors as a sequential wastewater treatment system for alcohol wastewater treatment. The treated water from the anaerobic system will be further treated in the subsequent aerobic and other wastewater treatment facilities so as to meet the local wastewater discharge standards (500mg/L of COD), and then discharged to the local wastewater treatment plant for further cleansing. In addition, the project activity will also install a boiler and a biogas-fuelled generator (0.5 MW of total installed capacity) to produce steam and electricity by utilizing biogas recovered from the anaerobic reactors.

It is estimated that the project will annually generate over 3,000 MWh of electricity energy to displace part of the electricity purchased from the North China Power Grid, save more than 5,000 t of coal and reduce approx. 71,000 tCO₂e of GHG annually, in combining methane emission avoidance of 58,000 tCO₂e, biogas based heat production of 10,000 tCO₂e and biogas based electricity generation of 3,000 tCO₂e.

This project started its operation on the 11th of August, 2009.

Services provided

Pre-feasibility Study
Registration under CDM
Monitoring and Issuance of carbon credits

Sustainable development goals MORE DETAILS

Good Health and Well-being

Good Health and Well-Being: Local air quality is improved as biogas is a cleaner energy than coal and emits less air pollutants such as SOx and PM. Closed anaerobic reactors reduce odour from the anaerobic decomposition process.

Affordable and Clean Energy

Affordable and Clean Energy: Wastewater treatment and methane recovery allow biogas-based heat and electricity production that replaces fossil fuels and saves energy expenditures.

Decent Work and Economic Growth

Decent Work and Economic Growth: Creation of 22 employment opportunities at the project location. Risk of explosion and fire associated with uncontrolled emission of methane is eliminated.

Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure: The introduction of state-of-the-art wastewater treatment and methane recovery systems may encourage  other companies to replicate the project, which results in dissemination of such modern  technology.

Responsible Production and Consumption

Responsible Consumption and Production: Instead of discharging large amounts of heavily polluted wastewater in open lagoons, the project will use anaerobic digesters and sequential wastewater treatment facilities to meet local wastewater discharge standards. By choosing biogas as the energy source, 5,000 t of coal will be saved per year and large amounts of coal ash waste will be avoided.

Climate Action

The project will reduce approx. 71,000 tCO2e of GHG annually, in combining methane emission avoidance of 58,000 tCO2e, biogas-based heat production of 10,000 tCO2e and biogas-based electricity generation of 3,000 tCO2e.