Started with IAEA Support, China's Electron Beam Industry Opens World's Largest Wastewater Treatment Facility

In 2017, a pilot facility in Jinhua city, 300 kilometres southwest of Shanghai, was built, with a capacity to treat 1.5 million litres of wastewater per day from a nearby textile factory. Two years after the launch of this demonstration project, construction of a commercial wastewater treatment plant at the Guanhua Knitting Factory began. Constructed by CGN Nuclear Technology Development Company (CGNNT), a subsidiary of China General Nuclear Power Corporation, the new wastewater plant treats more than 30 million litres of wastewater per day through the operation of seven electron accelerators. “Over 70% of the wastewater that runs through this operation can be reused in the factory, up from the previous reuse rate of 50%. This means less water directly from the nearby river is needed for the operation of the factory, saving 4.5 billion litres of water every year,” said Dongming Hu, general manager at CGNNT.

The success of this project has been widely shared with other industries in China to implement the technology in treating increasing amounts of wastewater due to population growth and industrial and agricultural development. “We have a high amount of wastewater discharged in China and it is difficult to treat this wastewater with conventional technologies. But with electron beams, we can greatly improve the discharge water recycling rate,” said He. Other demonstration projects are underway in Xinjiang, Hubei and Guangxi provinces. “We are working on implementing electron beam technology in a variety of different industries in China,” said He.

The textile industry consumes huge amounts of water and chemicals, such as dyes, starches, acids, salts and detergents, which are discharged during the production process. “Radiation techniques using electron beam technology can decompose the large amount of contaminants in the wastewater and remove these complex pollutants,” Han said. In this process, an electron accelerator generates an electron beam capable of ionising water molecules, thereby generating active radicals that react with the harmful organic contaminants found in the wastewater. These contaminants then degrade and become simpler chemical forms and are easier to treat through traditional methods.

“This project is a notable example of how a small amount of seed support from the IAEA Technical Cooperation and Coordinated Research Programmes contributes to stimulating the emergence of a sustainable industry in a country,” said Gashaw Wolde, who manages the IAEA’s technical cooperation projects with China. “The result is cleaner, more efficient industrial processes that clearly have a socio-economic impact at the national scale.”