Foshan ceramic industry is trapped in environmental crisis: emission standard "counterattack"

Abstract: The environmental discussion triggered by Chai Jing's "Under the Dome" has not yet been eliminated. To be environmentally friendly or to GDP, the answer is still not so clear. Tencent Finance "Prism" recently launched the "Environmental VS GDP" series of reports, following the launch of "10 Years Environmental Game of Xiaonan Seawater Power Station" last week, this week continues to focus on the environmental crisis of Foshan Ceramics.

On the one hand, the storm of rectification is “not to be soft”, on the other hand, the ceramic enterprises hold a “counterattack”, which finally reduces the emission standards to a certain extent: for local governments, environmental protection and economic development are the tasks they are being assessed. This is not only a place, an industry's environmental protection and industry story, but also a "sample" of China's manufacturing industry, especially high-pollution industries, when the current environmental protection standards are tightening.

“If the ceramic production line is closed across the board, there will be risks such as workers’ wages and suppliers’ recovery.” In a report, a township government in Foshan City, Guangdong Province issued a “warning” to the higher authorities, hoping for The rectification of the ceramic industry, which has a local financial revenue of 90%, has slowed down.

But this reason is no longer as good as it used to be. The final reply to this report is: "There should be a determination to rectify the rectification and not be soft."

For ceramic companies in many places, it is not good to say that they have been in 2014 until now. Because of the shadow of the market's sluggish and overcapacity, the pressure on environmental protection has risen.

—— “In the past, I have not taken environmental protection seriously for a long time. In the blink of an eye, I found that the environment is really moving, and the factory is on the verge of discontinuation!”

Ceramic production has experienced high-temperature firing, which consumes a large amount of coal and fuel, and also produces a large amount of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and dust, which makes the ceramic industry one of the biggest killers of air. Years ago, the environmental protection department had set the pollutant discharge standard for this industry, but the actual strict implementation – with the strong support of local governments – was just beginning last year.

As a result, Foshan ceramics enterprises, as well as the ceramic industry in Guangdong and the whole country, have been caught in a round of "environmental crisis." In response, Foshan’s companies have jointly named the above-mentioned Ministry of Environmental Protection, which led the latter to revise the pollutant discharge standards set a few years ago. However, many ceramic companies still stopped production and rectification due to failure to meet the standards.

It used to be the ceramic industry that attracted investment from all over the country, and faced the fate of being expelled. This is not only a place, an industry's environmental protection and industry story, but also a "sample" of China's manufacturing industry, especially high-pollution industries, when the current environmental protection standards are tightening.

Environmental barriers come

In 2014, it was included in the PM2.5 monitoring list by the Ministry of Environmental Protection. Among the 190 prefecture-level cities in China, 21 cities in Guangdong were on the list, of which Foshan ranked 152th, after Guangdong Province, after Zhaoqing. In these two prefecture-level cities, the ceramic industry is relatively concentrated.

The local department of Foshan is not unaware of the impact of the ceramic industry on local air. Foshan Environmental Protection Bureau related to Tencent Finance "Prism" said that Foshan ceramic industry has made great contributions to economic development. On the other hand, Foshan ceramic industry has always been the focus of environmental management with high energy consumption and high consumption.

Many ceramic industry people described the "prism". In the last century, the ceramic industry was basically not subject to environmental constraints. To this day, in some of the emerging ceramic industry clusters in the Mainland, the pollution of ceramic factories is as “obvious” as it used to be. The dust is thickly covered with houses, trees and surfaces.

The air pollutants emitted by the ceramic industry include sulfur dioxide, dust and nitrogen oxides, etc., and are also the main culprit in the formation of acid rain and haze. Wu Xuefang, director of the Institute of Environmental Standards of the Chinese Academy of Environmental Sciences, once said that the current situation of air pollution in China is that sulfur dioxide pollution ranks the world's most, nitrogen dioxide pollution ranks the world's most, and fine particulate matter pollution ranks the highest in the world.

In the early years, many ceramic factories in Foshan and other ceramic industry development areas did not have desulfurization (for sulfur dioxide emissions), dust removal (for dust emissions), out of stock (for nitrogen oxide emissions) and other targeted environmental treatment equipment. According to the introduction of environmental protection equipment, air pollution in ceramic factories is more difficult to monitor than water pollution. In some places, probes are installed in chimneys of ceramic factories, and are monitored by environmental protection departments.

Li Mingyu is the deputy director of the Environmental Engineering Research Institute of Jinan University. He said to Prism that among the three major environmental protection investments in the ceramic industry of desulfurization, dedusting and denitrification, the former two technologies are relatively mature, and ceramics have been used in places such as Foshan. Enterprises generally promoted, however, because there is no mandatory denitration input, the nitrides of ceramic enterprises have been discharged in the past.

Since the beginning of the 21st century, Foshan's ceramic enterprises have been eliminated or actively transferred. The Foshan Environmental Protection Bureau said to the "prism" that there are currently more than 60 enterprises in the city's ceramic production enterprises, and the air in Guangdong Province in 2014. There are still six Foshan ceramic enterprises in the list of enterprises that focus on the monitoring of pollutants.

“In 2014, the central government changed the local GDP from the original GDP assessment to the environmental assessment. Therefore, the local government has attached importance to the environment. For example, in the 2014 list, PM2.5 is included in the list of 190 countries. Prefecture-level city.” Zhang Qikang, director of the famous local ceramics leading company Mona Lisa Group, analyzed the reasons for Prism.

The "Environmental Law Amendment" passed in April last year, known as the most stringent new environmental law in history, is also widely regarded as a driving force. It was implemented in 2015, and severe administrative penalties were imposed on polluters and responsible persons in charge, and the environmental protection department was given more power. In July last year, Foshan formulated and promulgated a comprehensive remediation plan for air pollution in the ceramic industry, and implemented deepening of flue gas pollution on 63 ceramic enterprises in Foshan.

Emission standard "counterattack"

The local government is determined to force ceramic companies to meet environmental standards before the implementation of the new environmental protection law. In Foshan, ceramic companies began to panic. Zhang Yongwen, deputy secretary-general of the Foshan Ceramics Industry Association, told the Prism: "The government wants companies to meet standards within the stipulated time. If the company does not invest in time (environmental protection) and fails to meet the standards, it will stop production."

"In accordance with the requirements of pollution control, look at the emission standards set by the environmental protection department in 2010. Enterprises generally feel that they are unable to meet the standards, which is too strict!" Zhang Qikang said.

In fact, the National Environmental Protection Agency issued the “Ceramic Industry Pollutant Emission Standard” (GB25464-2010) for the ceramic industry in 2010, which includes indicators such as sulfur dioxide, particulate matter (dust) and nitride.

Zhang Qikang described the "prism". In the past, ceramic enterprises were not aware of environmental protection. The environmental protection departments went to the local area to investigate and formulate pollutant discharge standards for ceramic industry. The company's efforts to cope with it made the Ministry of Environmental Protection set relatively strict standards. “In 2010, no company had its own testing equipment, but they did not pay attention to these surveys.

Ceramic companies decided to take a group attack. Foshan Ceramic Industry Association and more than 40 ceramic enterprises in Foshan jointly submitted to the Guangdong Provincial Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision and the National Standardization Administration Committee an "Emergency Report on the Implementation of "Ceramic Industry Pollutant Emission Standards", etc." Taking into account the actual situation of the industry and the current level of environmental protection technology, some indicators are even stricter than those of developed countries."

In July last year, the National Environmental Protection Department Standards Division led a team of experts to Foshan to conduct ceramic industry research, including holding on-site meetings, visiting ceramic companies such as Mona Lisa, etc. On December 20, the Ministry of Environmental Protection announced the revision of the standard. The edition, which adjusted a number of indicators, was described by ceramics as "for the ceramic industry, especially the ceramic enterprises in Foshan and Zhaoqing, it is 'save a life' and won valuable rectification time."

However, this adjustment has also caused controversy in the environmental protection industry. In the investigation process, many people expressed doubts about "Prism". They believed that the Ministry of Environmental Protection went to local investigations and only consulted the opinions of ceramic enterprises and subordinate scientific research institutions, and did not extensively solicit opinions from environmental protection agencies. In the investigation conclusion, Li Mingyu and others also believe that the adjustment of this standard is a great retrogression.

“In the standard revision, ceramic plants have much less denitrification requirements, and they can discharge 70% more nitrogen oxides into the air,” said Li Mingyu. Another person in charge of the environmental protection company told Prism that some emission indicators have been more than doubled; the dust removal technology has long been mature and the input cost is not high, but the dust emission standard has also been relaxed three times.

The ceramic industry and the environmental protection industry also have different opinions on the technical feasibility and cost of denitration. Li Mingyu and others believe that the denitration process in the ceramic industry is mature and the cost can be controlled. The ceramics industry has the opposite opinion. It means that the out-of-stock investment is too large, the efficiency is uncontrollable, and even affects the quality of ceramic products. In the joint book, there is no suitable denitration technology. Used by ceramic companies to control the emission of nitrogen oxides.

Han Xiaoping, chief information officer of China Energy Network, introduced the "prism". Desulfurization, dust removal and denitration have matured in technology. Generally speaking, denitration is relatively complicated in process and high in cost; a ceramic that does not want to be named The person in charge of environmental protection of the enterprise said to the "Prism" that there are already available denitration processes and equipments suitable for the ceramic industry. The input, installation and maintenance are not complicated.

Foshan Environmental Protection Bureau said that the "prism" represents the result of pollution control of the ceramic industry since 2014: It is required that before November 1, 2014, the city's ceramic enterprises will fully meet the "Ceramic Industry Pollutant Emission Standards" (GB25464-2010) indicators. It is required to reduce the total amount of air pollutants discharged by ceramic enterprises; it is required to fully complete the installation of online monitoring and monitoring systems before December 31, 2014, and network with environmental protection departments to monitor the emission levels of air pollutants in real time. After a year of rectification, the city's ceramic enterprises have completed the remediation tasks.

“In the long run, ceramic companies have only won time. The current revision of the standard is temporary. After a certain period of time, the state will update these standards.” Zhang Yongwen, deputy secretary general of Foshan Ceramic Industry Association, told Prism. .

Government will rectify

Enterprises that are temporarily avoided by the standards are still unable to sleep. At the end of last year, the environmental protection department of Foshan organized a sampling inspection of ceramic enterprises, and 11 enterprises were selected. It is reported that the basis for the sampling inspection is still the “most stringent” in 2010, and the “survival” was not drawn. Enterprises are waiting to see the outcome of this round of random inspections - "If it is converted according to that standard, I estimate that it is impossible to achieve the standard. If there is a possibility of compliance with the revised list, it is impossible to reach 100%." ​​Zhang Qi Kang Tancheng.

According to people familiar with the matter, in order to get rid of the backward situation as soon as possible in the competition to eliminate air pollution, Foshan City has the strictest environmental protection requirements for ceramic enterprises in the areas where the national ceramic industry is concentrated, including proposing enterprises to invest in denitrification according to the 2010 standard. . “The pressure to reduce emissions is very high. The provincial government, the city’s pressure zone, and the environmental protection bureaus in various districts are not good.”

The multiple local government documents obtained by Prism show a complicated situation. A prefecture-level city began to introduce ceramic enterprises on a large scale in 2008, and the air pollution problem is becoming more and more serious. Many ceramic enterprises have already put into production in the local area without obtaining the EIA license. After the environmental protection inspection and rectification started last year, this The historical problems of the class are exposed.

According to the document, the prefecture-level city once issued a report to the higher level, referring to the ceramic enterprises in the local settlement of the employment of rural labor, in some towns, the ceramic industry even accounted for 90% of the fiscal revenue. The town’s leadership team requested, “If the ceramic production line is closed across the board, there will be risks such as wage arrears and suppliers’ recovery.” I hope that the higher-level departments will slow down the reorganization of local ceramic enterprises.

However, the city’s superiors immediately convened an environmental department meeting to deny the request of the prefecture-level city – “to think about the issue from a higher overall perspective. In the future, the development of the ceramic industry must have higher environmental requirements. All rectifications should be determined to focus on rectification and reform.

In other areas where the ceramic industry investment has been concentrated in recent years, the rectification of the ceramic industry is also underway. In Zhaoqing City, Guangdong Province, in February last year, the ceramics companies were asked to shut down the rectification and even if the environmental protection is not up to standard. Like Guangdong Jiangmen, Fujian Quanzhou, Shenyang Faku and other regions, Zhaoqing City has also fully forced ceramic enterprises to use natural gas production and promoted them in the form of financial subsidies.

However, many local industry media also described that the method of compulsory use of natural gas has caused the price of natural gas in some areas to soar. Some enterprises have chosen to stop production and wait and see. In addition, some environmental protection agencies have pointed out that coal-to-gas conversion will not help reduce nitrogen oxides. As a result, the ceramic industry and the environmental protection industry are launching another triangular discussion on environmental protection, energy conservation and emission reduction and corporate survival.

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