For the second year in a row, the sludge issue has been the focus of attention at the National People's Congress.

This year's two sessions, the National People's Congress, CME Ecological Environmental Protection Group Chief Engineer Cheng Hanfei submitted "on the promotion of urban sewage treatment plant sludge effective treatment and disposal of proposalsIt is recommended that an assessment of the effectiveness of sludge treatment and disposal should be conducted, special plans and action plans for sludge treatment and disposal should be formulated, and policy support and funding should be provided to safeguard the work of sludge resource utilisation.

Cheng Hanfei, deputy to the National People's Congress, chief engineer of CMEC Eco-Environmental Protection Group and president of CMEC Eco-Environmental Protection Technology Research Institute. Image source: China Environmental Protection Industry Association

It's no coincidence thatLast year's two sessions, the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce Environmental Chamber of Commerce also submitted a "proposal to improve the environmental protection industry into the water and sludge disposalIt is proposed to improve the construction of relevant supporting mechanisms for sludge treatment and disposal, and to introduce relevant policies to encourage enterprises to participate in the investment, construction and operation of sludge treatment and disposal facilities.

With regard to the proposal of the Environmental Chamber of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce.The Ministry of Ecology and Environment replied that the next step will be the preparation and implementation of the "14th Five-Year Plan" for the Development of Urban Sewage Treatment and Resource Utilisation and the "Implementation Plan for Harmless Resource Utilisation of Sludge", etc., and will strive to crack the difficulties in sludge disposal, and promote the work related to the harmless resource utilisation of sludge.

The sludge problem has become a "big problem" for sewage treatment plants.

1, Tianjin Qingninghou sludge landfill sludge disposal in violation of environmental hazards

2、Beijing's Pinggu District bog river sewage treatment plant sludge disposal chaos

3. Ineffective promotion of the harmless disposal of domestic sludge in Chaoyang City, Liaoning Province

4、Sichuan Suining sludge disposal supervision is seriously deficient, in the name of soil improvement in the practice of illegal landfill

In the case of Tianjin, for example, because of the illegal disposal of a sludge landfill, the local government, after being informed by the central ecological and environmental protection inspectors, has31 individuals were held accountable.

Why are pollution problems so high? Mainly becauseInadequate "supply side".

In recent years, the state has introduced many policies on environmental protection, and has continuously increased investment in water pollution prevention and control, while also strengthening regulatory efforts.

However, these inputs and regulation are somewhat less balanced, with "heavy emphasis on plants rather than networks", "heavy emphasis on water rather than mud", and "heavy emphasis on downstream (sewage plants) rather than upstream (upstream sewage enterprises)".

Taking sludge as an example, as China has always had the problem of "valuing water over sludge" in the construction of sewage treatment facilities, resulting in the followingSewage treatment facilities are being built rapidly, but sludge disposal facilities are lagging significantly behind, and there is a lack of adequate and stable sites for the elimination of sludge after it is generated.

And at the same time, with the state's focus on the sludge issue in recent years, regulation is again much stricter than before.

In this way, formal sludge disposal units dare not or reduce their acceptance of sewage treatment plants due to insufficient capacity for their own disposal or fear of environmental inspections.Sludge Filter Press, either that or a substantial increase in the price of sludge disposal.

As a direct result of this, theThere is no stable outlet for sludge from sewage treatment plants, so they can only produce less sludge and find ways to "hold" the sludge in the biochemical system..

stillThis will lead to "secondary disasters".Firstly, sewage plants cannot discharge sludge normally, resulting in a greatly increased risk of exceeding the effluent standard; secondly, the sludge concentration is getting higher and higher, sewage treatment plants have to reduce production, and the treatment capacity is greatly affected; thirdly, it is necessary to increase the amount of aeration, prolong the dewatering and de-sludging time as well as the operating time of the external return pump, thus increasing the energy and electricity consumption, resulting in higher costs.

And when there is really no other way, sewage plants can only store the excess sludge temporarily in their own plants. As a result, when environmental inspections come, they are often penalised for this problem.

All in all, the sludge problem has now become a "big problem" for sewage treatment plants and needs to be solved urgently.

It is precisely because the sludge problem has become a pain point for sewage treatment plants that it has also attracted the attention of delegates and members of the two sessions.

The national level has organised special research on sludge treatment and disposal, conducted a comprehensive assessment of the actual effects, existence and potential risks of sludge treatment and disposal, improved the standards for sludge treatment and disposal, preferred technical routes suitable for China's national conditions, and formulated a negative list to prevent the transfer of pollutants between the gas phase and the solid phase (sludge) in the process of sludge co-processing and disposal. Reasonably study the effective destination of sludge resourcefulness, break down industry barriers, formulate national standards for sludge resourcefulness and utilisation, force urban sewage treatment plants to enter water with standards (relevant industrial wastewater that hinders sludge resourcefulness is not allowed to enter), and at the same time take the opportunity to carry out the traceability of pollutants with characteristic factors in sludge to effectively promote high-quality operation of China's urban sewage treatment plants. Environmental protection inspections and checks at all levels, clarifying the specific contents and standards of sludge treatment and disposal inspections and checks, as a mandatory check and key matters.

Local governments should develop sludgeFilter Press ProcessingDisposal of special planning, detailed investigation of sludge stock, accurate prediction of sludge increment, systematic layout of sludge within the scope of the administrative area under its jurisdiction, rational planning of location and scale, clear final destination of sludge, specific requirements for sludge treatment and disposal, etc. It realises the connection between medium- and long-term planning and near-term risk mitigation, and carries out special sludge actions to effectively dispose of the stock of sludge and reduce the risk of environmental pollution.

Based on the fact that sludge treatment and disposal projects will increase investment and operation costs to a certain extent due to environmental risk mitigation, energy and resource utilisation, and contribution to carbon emission reduction, the state has introduced relevant policies to subsidise the ecological value and provide tax incentives for relevant industries, and to incorporate the reasonable treatment and disposal of sludge into the selection of eco-cities and cities for the comprehensive utilisation of resources. Local governments will incorporate the sludge treatment and disposal fees of urban sewage treatment plants into their annual budgets, and make full and timely payments to the relevant subjects.

Introduce incentive policies and national standards related to the land use of sludge, and improve the indicators for measuring pollution emissions from the incineration of sludge in synergistic power plants and the use of building materials (bricks and ceramic granules). Clarify the subjects to be paid by local governments for sludge treatment and disposal, and pay in full and in a timely manner for the costs of sludge disposal. Improve the government subsidy mechanism for sludge disposal projects, and the government subsidy policy should be consistent with the direction of the technology encouraged by the state. For example, the technology policy is clear that anaerobic digestion and land use is the preferred technology direction, should be accompanied by the introduction of biogas use of power generation subsidy policy as well as sludge composting product resourcefulness priority procurement policy, while the wet sludge calorific value of low, direct incineration has no value of power generation, so sludge incineration of supporting policies should be a prerequisite for sludge incineration, the sludge water content rate or received base calorific value should reach a certain level of requirements to be able to properly Subsidies, and sludge direct incineration of power generation incentive policy is not very appropriate.

Introduce relevant policies to encourage enterprises to participate in the investment, construction and operation of sludge treatment and disposal facility projects. At present, there are two modes in the market, PPP (BOT) and government procurement service, to deal with municipal sludge. Since the government procurement service contract usually has a short contract time, the disposal method is unstable, which is not conducive to lowering the government's disposal cost, and the operation risk is higher, so it is recommended that the national level guide local governments to adopt the long-term agreement mode.

If all these recommendations can be implemented, it is believed that it will be a big boost to the sludge disposal work.

The Ministry of Ecology and Environment has also responded to proposals made throughout the year by the Environmental Chamber of the National Federation of Industry and Commerce.

The Department of Ecology responded:

1. Preparing and implementing the "14th Five-Year Plan" for the Development of Urban Sewage Treatment and Resource Utilisation and the "Implementation Plan for the Harmless Resource Utilisation of Sludge", focusing on solving the difficulties in sludge disposal, and promoting the work related to the harmless resource utilisation of sludge.

2. Arranging investment within the central budget to support the construction of sewage sludge treatment projects.2021 In May 2021, the Development and Reform Commission issued the Special Administrative Measures for Investment within the Central Budget for Pollution Control and Energy Conservation and Carbon Reduction to continue to support the construction of projects such as sewage treatment.

3. Enhance the level of technological innovation and application. Further play a synergistic role in industrial policy and fiscal and financial policies, guide financial institutions to support environmental protection equipment, and promote the healthy development of environmental protection industry. Focus on key core technology and equipment, research and development. Cultivate the creation of environmental protection industry technology innovation centre, carry out pilot demonstration of advanced and applicable energy-saving environmental protection technology and equipment, and accelerate the promotion and application of new technologies and equipment.

4. Strengthening supervision and inspection. In-depth implementation of the "Clean Waste Action", strict investigation and handling of typical cases of sludge disposal in violation of the law, and the formation of a strong deterrent effect. Continuing to include the issue of sludge disposal in the focus of the central ecological environmental protection inspection and "looking back", urging local party committees and governments to effectively raise awareness, increase investment, and actively promote the construction of sludge disposal capacity, and enhance the level of harmless disposal and resource utilisation of sludge.

It should be said that positive signals have been released.

The plan also gives many concrete measures on how to crack the difficulties of sludge disposal and achieve harmlessness to promote resourcefulness.

For example, sludge disposal facilities should be included in the construction planning of local sewage treatment facilities. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, the scale of new facilities for the harmless disposal of sludge (wet sludge with a water content of 80%) should be no less than 20,000 tonnes per day.

And in terms of technical requirements, forHarmless disposal of sludgeThe new sewage treatment plant must have a clear pathway for sludge disposal.

Encourage the use of thermal hydrolysis, anaerobic digestion, aerobic fermentation and drying for harmless treatment. Encourage the use of sludge and kitchen and food waste to build treatment facilities to enhance the comprehensive disposal of urban organic waste.

The policy is there, but the funding is still not yet clear.

In the "14th Five-Year Plan" for the Development of Urban Sewage Treatment and Resource Utilisation, although it mentions "perfecting the fee-price-tax mechanism", it stipulates that: each region shall, in accordance with the principle of covering the normal operation of wastewater treatment facilities and the cost of sludge disposal, and making a reasonable profit, reasonably set Sewage treatment fee standard, and according to the local water pollution prevention and control objectives, taking into account the sewage discharge standards and sludge disposal and other reasonable increase in the cost of dynamic adjustment factors.

However.This is only a rough stipulation that "the cost of sludge disposal shall be taken into account", and it does not specify the source of the cost of sludge disposal.

And in the Ministry of Ecology and Environment mentioned "pollution control and energy saving and carbon reduction in the central budget investment special management measures", but after checking, did not see the word "sludge".

Therefore, as far as funding is concerned, it seems that funding for sludge disposal is still unavailable at the moment, and continued appeals from the industry are needed.

The Ministry of Ecology and Environment has sent out clear signals in terms of strengthening regulation.

For example.To carry out in-depth "clean waste action", but also continue to sludge disposal issues into the central ecological environmental protection inspectors and "look back" focus, and so on.

In this way, local governments can actually be urged to pay attention to the sludge problem and increase their input in this area.

In conclusion.As can be seen from the reply of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, there is now a national policy on sludge disposal; the funding issue has not yet been fully resolved, but the regulation has been gradually put in place, and in general it still presents a positive trend, and there is a great degree of progress compared with the past.

It is believed that under the continuous attention of the representatives and members, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment and other ministries and commissions will also continue to increase the investment in sludge disposal and promote the deepening of the implementation of this work.

References:

1, the two sessions to see the industry | National People's Congress Cheng Hanfei: sludge disposal of the actual effect and risk of a comprehensive assessment, to prevent the transfer of pollutants between the three phases of solid gas and water, China Environment, 2022-03-07

2, Improvement of wastewater treatment plant influent exceedance and sludge disposal, All-China Environment Chamber, 2021-12-03

3, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment replied to the "sludge proposal", revealing what signals? Environmental Circle, 2021-12-10

Source: Environmental Circle