Pan Jiantong of BHT Environ: Trends of Rural Wastewater Treatment Analyzed in Three Dimensions
Rural wastewater treatment has been at the forefront as driven by the 13th Five-Year Plan and implementation of the Action Plan for Water Pollution Prevention and Control. The industry is now facing enormous market opportunities, regional differences, and various processes. How about the future of rural wastewater treatment? At the 3rd Implementation and Management of Environmental Industry Forum 2018, Pan Jiantong, Chairman and General Manager of Beijing Bohuite Environmental Technology Co., Ltd., (BHT Environ) analyzed the trends of rural wastewater treatment in three dimensions based on experience of the company for many years.
Source: h2o-china.com By: Yi Jianlian
Rural wastewater treatment has been at the forefront as driven by the 13th Five-Year Plan and implementation of the Action Plan for Water Pollution Prevention and Control. The industry is now facing enormous market opportunities, regional differences, and various processes. How about the future of rural wastewater treatment? At the 3rd Implementation and Management of Environmental Industry Forum 2018, Pan Jiantong, Chairman and General Manager of BHT Environ analyzed the trends of rural wastewater treatment in three dimensions based on experience of the company for many years.
Pan Jiantong, Chairman and General Manager of BHT Environ
Beijing Bohuite Environmental Technology Co., Ltd. (BHT Environ), a national-level high-tech enterprise founded by a team of doctoral degree holders in 2009, is the only technology company engaged in wastewater treatment listed on the NEEQ. As a key enterprise supported by the Beijing Zhongguancun Science and Technology Park, BHT Environ has been focusing on energy saving and consumption reduction in response to the market demand while levering preferential policies of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, and industrial resources and platforms. Its business center on industrial wastewater, municipal wastewater and industrial park wastewater as well as rural wastewater and rehabilitation of other polluted waters, covering DBCO process package service for new construction, renovation, upgrade and expansion projects, wastewater plant operation, technical service and consulting, reclaimed water reuse, and water-related TIO.
According to Pan Jiantong, BHT Environ’s technical team has solid theoretical knowledge and rich experience in engineering related to wastewater in over a dozen of industries, including coal chemical, petroleum, chemical, papermaking, pharmaceutical, printing and dyeing, mining, food, brewery, etc. It has also implemented a series of demonstration projects of municipal wastewater treatment. BHT Environ has participated in over 100 projects for design and commissioning. By enhancing research and development of wastewater technology in the petrochemical and coal chemical industries in the last two years, BHT Environ has made remarkable technological achievements. BHT Environ’s core technology --- BioDopp --- has been included in the list of CNOOC of preferred wastewater treatment technology and the list of the Ministry of Environmental Protection of environmentally-friendly labeled products. Its BioDopp technology and BioComb technology have been listed as key new technologies/products for promotion of Beijing. BHT Environ has been frequently engaged by PetroChina, Sinopec, Datang, Henan Energy Chemical, MCC, Zhongjin, Beijing Enterprises Water, Botian and many other clients for provision of technology and corrective measures, and has developed into a technology company with high recognition in the industry.
Pan Jiantong noted that the technical system of BHT Environ has a focal point --- energy consumption. With BHT Environ’s technology, the energy consumption of wastewater treatment can be reduced by over 40% compared to regular technology. Moreover, BHT Environ’s equipment takes up less land, maintains higher stability in operation and maintenance, and simplifies management. Its technical system centers on aerobic biochemical technology, engineering bacteria acclimation technology, anaerobic biochemical technology, and other supporting technologies.
By summarizing experience from years of research and practice, Pan Jiantong analyzed the current state, problems, and the future of rural wastewater treatment in three dimensions, i.e. factors related to policies on rural wastewater treatment, demand from the perspective of operation, and the discussion of business models.
Firstly, driving force of policies.
In recent years, the government has kept promoting improvement of the rural water environment, providing strong support with policies for facilitating the development of rural wastewater treatment. Pan Jiantong noted the example of the Action Plan for Water Pollution Prevention and Control released in April, 2015, which calls for speeding up the comprehensive rehabilitation of the rural environment. According to the plan, rural wastewater treatment will be implemented through unified planning, unified construction and unified management, with counties as the principal units. If possible, urban wastewater treatment facilities and services should be extended to rural areas. The plan also requires deepening the policy of "promoting treatment with prizes", to implement cleanness projects in rural areas, dredge river courses and promote the continuous rehabilitation of the rural environment. By 2020, there should be additional 130,000 administrative villages which have completed comprehensive rehabilitation of the environment.
The 13th Five-Year Plan also clearly provides for improvement to the rural water environment improvement. The ecological water sources, the basin around the Taihu Lake, upper reaches of drinking water source upstream, and rural areas around sensitive areas in the ring of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei are subject to stricter requirements, and implement the plan to greater extent than other places around the country.
Pan Jiantong concluded that rural wastewater treatment is still facing three pain points. The first involves specific difficulties, such as insufficient pipe network, and difficulties in centralized collection of difficulties; lack of professional personnel, and low management capability. The second involves technical difficulties, such as high operational costs, incomplete fee payment mechanism; various levels of technical capability, hardly possible compliance with standards, and most facilities not in use; mixing of rainwater and wastewater, instable amount of wastewater, and no breakeven point. The third involves inherent difficulties, such as few immediate benefits to farmers, lack of inherent drive; business models subject to limitation of policy release, and rigid project practices.
Secondly, demand from the perspective of operation angle,
Pan Jiantong suggested that rural wastewater treatment should be promoted by following the ideas of operation, as most are investment projects. There are several considerations, i.e. less efforts, less attention, happiness. Less efforts mean easy routine operation. Happiness means higher return on investment, and short term of return for recovery of investment. The ideas of operation should be realized with technology, such as: AO+ contact oxidation, air lifting and backflow in place of sludge pumping, reentrant swirling intake or air agitation, high efficiency aeration, integrated biochemical treatment, sedimentation and filtering, pressureless filtration, electric phosphorus removal, combined distributed and ecological methods, etc.
To address the characteristics of rural wastewater in China, BHT Environ has developed the BioComb integrated systems for distributed biological treatment, featuring energy saving, use of new energy, dummy-proof management, remote monitoring and unattended operation. The BioComb technology is available with equipment series for effluent meeting the requirements for class 1B or 1A. With energy consumption per tonne of water of only 0.1 – 0.2 kWh, the systems are characterized by low energy consumption, small footprint, easy operation and management. By incorporating wind and solar modules, the system almost requires no extra power supply. Remote data modules allow remote monitoring and alarm sending, and unattended operation, minimizing daily operational costs and return period of investment.
After wastewater treatment, the EcoComb technology may be used to combine landscaping, ecosystem, and aquaculture. The treated wastewater can be used for fish farming, generating incomes for farmers. Modules are available for adjusting the contents of nitrogen and phosphorus in water. The overflow and outflow can also be used for agricultural irrigation. It is possible to provide solutions to rural wastewater treatment that are close to the natural way of life.
Pan Jiantong particularly introduced BioComb, which is a compact small wastewater treatment plant housed in a standard container (10, 20, 30, or 40 feet). The product is specially designed for small or mobile wastewater treatment systems. The whole set is built in a standard container of liquid. The container conforms to the ISO (International Shipping Organization) standards. It is convenient for transport and highly resistant to corrosion.
The BioComb biochemical reactor is of a highly intensive integrated structure design, significantly reducing land use, civil construction costs, and operational costs with appropriately allocated functional units, ideal for decentralized treatment of rural wastewater and other point sources.
The table below compares various indicators between processes available in rural wastewater treatment stations.
The EcoComb (Ecological Pond Combo) solution for ecologically-friendly wastewater treatment combines China’s ancient ecological philosophy with modern biological technology, accelerating ecological rehabilitation with advanced engineering means. With biological benefits and landscaping elements rural areas, it is ideal for wastewater treatment for parks, sanatoriums, villas; river sources and small lakes with moderate or heavy pollution; underground water bodies subject to COD and ammonia nitrogen pollution.
EcoComb dates back to late 1960s, when idea played a key role in early development of circular aquaculture in German. In the following 50 years, the process has been improved with special aeration devices, air lifting, flow pushing, and other engineering means, and has been replicated and proved around the world. The EcoComb solution has been applied in wastewater treatment and industrial fish ponds. Based on theories and practices of biochemical technology, ecology and circular aquaculture, BHT Environ has made further innovation and engineering efforts to the technology making it more suitable for China’s Beautiful Countryside Initiatives.
EcoComb creates an ecosystem with biochemical treatment, separation, aquaculture and landscaping. It mainly consists of two main components, i.e. a circular ditch and an algae pond. The circular ditch may be built as an earth tank with simple anti-seepage measures, working with air lifting cycles in combination with fine bubble aeration, and featuring low energy consumption and unattended operation. The water after treatment is toxin free and meets the standard for aquaculture water quality, and is discharged to the algae pond. The water after treatment with a circular pond is safe for aquaculture, as there is no industrial substance in the wastewater. The ability of the algae pond for restore the ecosystem and waters to further improve the water quality, and the overflow and outflow water can be used for agricultural irrigation.
Based on technical research and exploration, BHT Environ has applied and improved the technology in a number of projects.
Pan Jiantong summarized the possible breakthroughs in rural wastewater treatment in 7 technical dimensions. Firstly, the BioComb process has clearly defined functional zones, with strengthened removal of nitrogen and phosphorus, ensuring consistent compliance with standards by wastewater treatment stations. Secondly, high efficiency aeration, low dissolved oxygen, air lifting backflow, pressureless filtration, low energy consumption. Thirdly, high level of integration, high pollution and small footprint. Fourthly, high backflow ratio, strong impact resistance, and fast recovery. Fifthly, high level of automatic control for ease of management and reduced labor costs. Sixthly, electrolysis of phosphorus removal eliminating traditional chemical preparation and addition, reducing personnel. Seventhly, from the perspective of investment and business model, less civil construction, short construction period, long service life, moderate investment, greater technology advantages, diverse business models, and high control over projects. According to Pan Jiantong, the BioDopp process has appropriately designed functional units, suitable for not only class 1A municipal wastewater treatment plants, but also quasi-class 4 wastewater treatment plants after enhancement.
Finally, innovation in business models.
Several years ago, BHT Environ mainly undertook new construction and expansion projects. In recent years, BHT Environ has made some adjustments to its business model, shifting its focus from traditional process packages to investment service, as more and more private enterprises enter the industry and private investors become interested in the industry. At present, the industry’s business environment has changed fundamentally. In the past, there were many EPC contracts. Now, the number of PPP projects is increasing and the size of the market would reach trillions of yuan.
Competition becomes more intense in the market, where whales, sharks and small fish coexist. In this context, many technical companies worry about their survival. Pan Jiantong believes it is not necessary to worry about this problem, as the industry is actually in a kind of dynamic balance. Technology companies were thought to survive in niches between platform companies, and now they are said to survive between teeth of whales. However, they can live a better life, provided that they own outstanding technology and impressive business modes.
In the future, BHT Environ will participate in cooperation in more ecological efforts. The industry needs convergence and fusion to change China’s water environment, and reproduce the countryside once existing in our childhood, said Pan Jiantong.