Bluestar's wastewater business set to grow as environmental concerns rise

China National Bluestar (Group) Co Ltd has long been committed to developing better technologies for energy saving and emission reduction, said Ren Jianxin, chairman of China National Chemical Corp, Bluestar's parent company.

Bluestar Environment Engineering Co, a subsidiary of the chemical giant, has focused on water treatment and recycling to help protect the environment since 1992.

"Advanced technologies are key advantages of Bluestar Environment and we can provide the optimum solutions to our clients based on what their water contains and what the recycled water will be used for," said Zheng Dongsheng, deputy manager of the company.

Bluestar Environment has helped more than 1,500 clients treat water and one of its customers includes the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area, also known as Beijing ETown.

Etown is home to some 9,000 enterprises and Bluestar Environment's facilities in the area treat about 90,000 metric tons of wastewater everyday. More than 70 percent of the water can be reused by the companies, according to Bluestar Environment.

Zheng said the company started operating in Etown in 2008 and was popular among local enterprises.

"For companies, the cost of reusing wastewater with our assistance is lower than that of buying fresh industrial water," he said.

Zheng added that the recycled water is of much higher quality than fresh industrial water and is also drinkable. Several companies in Etown, including BOE Technology Group Co, which manufactures semiconductor display products, asked Bluestar Environment to provide them with wastewater recycling facilities and services individually.

Guo Jia, deputy manager of Bluestar Environment, said the wastewater recycling industry in China began to emerge after the company helped Taiyuan Steel Co reuse its wastewater in 2002.

Fresh industrial water in Taiyuan in North China's Shanxi province was very expensive as the city lacked water resources, he explained.

The steel company asked Bluestar Environment to help recycle its wastewater to save costs, for it could no longer aford fresh water for its stainless steel production line, which was built in 2000 and need to use large quantities of water.

Guo said there were very few water treatment companies that recycled industrial wastewater at the time and insiders did not think Bluestar Environment would succeed.

Bluestar Environment's facilities in Taiyuan Steel had daily treatment capacity of 70,000 metric tons of water when they came into operation in 2002.

Seventy-five percent of the water was reused by the steel company, according to Guo.

He added that the steel company was pleased with the water recycling system and organizations, including the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the China Iron and Steel Association, decided to promote the system as a model project for water saving and wastewater reuse across the country after they examined it in 2005.

Bluestar Environment executives believe the company's industrial wastewater treatment business will increase as governments pay more and more attention to water pollution and water recycling.

According to an action plan for prevention and treatment of water pollution issued by the State Council on April 2, governments should not approve projects in sectors like steel and papermaking that require more water for production unless they have the ability to use recycled water.

Zhang Dong, general manager of Bluestar Environment, said that because of the plan some companies were forced to do sewage treatment and reuse wastewater, which they wasted in the past.

China National Chemical Corp, the biggest chemical company in China, also known as ChemChina, has focused on wastewater treatment and environment protection for some time, according to Zhang.

As the chairman of Chem-China, Ren set a goal for zero emissions of liquid waste, for the group's subsidiaries in 2008.

ChemChina has not approved any new projects that cannot meet the zero emissions requirement since 2008 and the projects launched before have been working to achieve the goal, said Zhang.

He added that ChemChina is preparing to found a company specialized in environmental protection, including wastewater recycling and improvement of air quality.

Bluestar Environment also helped the National Stadium, or the Bird's Nest, build rainwater recycling facilities in 2008 when the Olympic Games was hosted in Beijing.

The recycled water was used for irrigating lawns, washing roads, toilets and garages in the stadium as well as fueling air conditioners.

songmengxing@chinadaily.com.cn