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development and design projectswill be carried through in China,such as the adjustment ofproducts already existing tomake them meet customerrequirements in China and therest of Asia.

Short delivery times

China is a low-cost area forproduction, but not much lowerthan Eastern Europe. Therefore,low production expenses are nota decisive reason for establishingproduction facilities there.

The main reason is the growingdemands for short delivery times.Carrying pumps and pumpsystems halfway round the worlddoes not make sense. Soproduction will be as close to allmarkets as possible, and in AsiaChina will be the mainproduction centre.

This leaves the great challenge,that of convincing Asian,including Chinese, customersthat pumps and pump systemsmanufactured in China are of equally high quality as

those manufactured in, forinstance, Europe. According to Bjerg, many potentialcustomers are slightly scepticalwhen they meet a product madein China. They have a notion oflow quality. This is a prejudicethat Grundfos wants to provewrong.

The quality standards inGrundfos’ factory in China areexactly the same as those inEurope. Bjerg wants customers tofocus on the fact that the pumpsare ‘made by Grundfos’ and stopfocusing on which country theywere made in.

Great prospects

Grundfos looks at China withgreat optimism when it comes todeveloping the market for pumpand pump systems in that hugecountry. The company sees thatthere is a huge potential market,as large parts of the countrycould benefit greatly from newand state-of-the-art pumps forwater supply, sewage, heatingsupply and the growingindustrial sector.

Figure 4. Most of the product types manufactured there are also manufactured in otherparts of the world. Here, UP pumps are being assembled in Grundfos' production factoryin Suzhou, China.

China’s environment, todayand tomorrowChina has come to realise that increased spending on environmental protectioncan bring net economic benefits by creating a strong domestic environmentindustry and encouraging exports. Water and air pollution are the main targets atthe moment. The environmental services sector is currently strong, but has plentyof room for growth. This will in turn stimulate the environmental equipmentsector, which is growing rapidly but currently suffers from too many smallcompanies, outdated manufacturing technology and not enough R&D. By 2010China aims to be competing strongly in the world market for environmentalequipment. Dr Christina Hirche reports on behalf of AchemAsia.

The key points

• Current spending on theenvironment is around 1.5% ofGDP, raising environmentalspending to 2–3% of GDP would allow the environment to improve. Emphasis is movingfrom end-of-pipe pollutioncontrol to integrated environ-mental strategies.

• China’s environmentalindustry is growing very rapidly,ahead of Chinese industry as awhole, and sales are now worthmore than 170 billion RMBannually.

• Continued and sustainablegrowth in the Chineseenvironmental protection industryrequires co-operation between

government, companies andinternational partners.

Environmental protection inChina has seen big changes in thepast 20 years. As in manydeveloped countries, theemphasis has moved from end-of-pipe pollution control, basedon individual plants andprocesses, to a coherent and

WORLD PUMPS April 2004 www.worldpumps.com 43

consistent strategy of pollutionprevention based on entiredrainage areas or othergeographical regions.

China now has a nationalstrategy for environmentalprotection, whose enforcementhas moved away from localadministrative orders, as in thepast, towards laws, taxes andother economic incentives. Yetwith GDP below $300 a head,China cannot work overnightmiracles with its environmentalperformance. Steady progressguided by well-planned strategiesis the way ahead.

The increasing emphasis onenvironmental protection hascreated an opportunity for theenvironmental industry in China.Experience from developedcountries shows that environ-mental investment of 1–1.5% ofGDP is enough to stop pollutionfrom getting worse, but notenough to improve the situation.To reverse the environmentaldecline will require an annualinvestment of 2–3% of GDP.Higher environmental spending,of course, also stimulates thegrowth of the Chineseenvironmental protection industry.

The next five years will bring bigchallenges to environmentalprotection as the Chineseeconomy continues to growrapidly. A realistic target will be tostop existing pollution fromgetting any worse, and to improveenvironmental decision-making.

Water treatmentManaging and reducing waterand air pollution are the twobiggest issues. The amount ofwater pollution discharged to theenvironment was estimated at14.5m t/d of COD in 2000, and thegoal is to reduce this by 5m t/d.

In municipal wastewatertreatment, a key aim is thecontinuing development ofsystems for capacities of more than200,000 t/d and less than 100,000t/d. Technologies being studiedinclude aerobic and anaerobicprocesses, including moving-bed and membrane systems, and equipment for removingnitrogen and phosphorus. Forindustrial wastewater treatment,

standard-isation and improve-ments in equipment quality areimportant. Other developmentfields include high-CODwastewaters, oil separation,wastewater streams containingsalts and heavy metals, and theproduction of high-purity andsterile water.

Saving water is equallyimportant, and here the focus ison power stations, fibres andtextiles, petrochemicals,papermaking and metallurgy.Technologies under develop-ment include ash slurry handlingat high concentrations, dryscrubbing systems for wastegases, water-saving systems fortextile washing and dyeing, andrecycling of cooling water and

process water. Desalination, drycooling towers and water-freeprocesses are also beingresearched.

The water pollution programmeof the 10th Five-Year Plan involvesa total new investment of 250billion RMB. Around 98 billionRMB of this is forecast to be spentwithin the environmentalprotection industry.

Solid wasteSolid waste management coversboth municipal and industrial(hazardous and non-hazardous)wastes. For the former, Chinaplans to develop new technologyand equipment for wastecollection, sorting, compaction,pretreatment, incineration and

Current projects: water treatment

Company Project Investment Notes Status (thousandRMB)

Beijing Enfei Liangxiang wastewater 71,610 New project Started

Environment Ltd treatment plant

Tianjin Chuangye Beicang wastewater 371,000 New project Started

Environment Ltd treatment plant

Handan City First phase of wastewater 338,870 New project Started

Planning Water treatment plant

Disposing Ltd

Baoding City Second phase of Baoding 496,520 New project Report in

Planning Ltd water treatment project progress

Shijiazhuang Shijiazhuang wastewater 938,810 New project Started

Water Disposing treatment project

Department (supported by the World

Bank)

Jincheng Water Department City 172,000 New project Report

Disposing wastewater treatment approved,

plant, capacity now in

100,000 t/d design

phase

Shunyi Zhanqian Shunyi water from north 300,000 New project Started

414 Project and east to south and

Command west project

Benxi Steel Ltd Water-saving project 174,980 New project Report

approved,

project

designing

Haerbin Haerbin Hejiagou 1,680,000 New project Report in

Construction treatment plant progress

Committee

Liaoning Anshan Second phase of the 388,400 New project Report in

City Construction city’s second wastewater progress

Bureau treatment plant, capacity

200,000 t/d

Wuhu Shanjiang Clean production project 410,000 New project Comm-

Chemical Ltd supported by ADB issioning

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flue gas cleaning. For landfill,new developments includesystems for gas handling andleachate cleaning, sealingmembranes and instrumen-tation. For composting, the aim isto develop new systems for bothlarge and small installations.

For toxic waste, high-temperatureincineration is the main planneddisposal route. Several purpose-built toxic waste incinerationplants are envisaged.

To improve the utilisation of

natural resources, the plan is todevelop processes for extractingmetals, including gold, silver,iron, thulium, columbium,vanadium and titanium, fromother ores and minerals. Also indevelopment are new ways touse the minerals that are co-extracted with coal, new uses foraluminite, pyrite and diatomite,and the conversion of miningwaste into building materials.

New technologies for the coalindustry include circulatingfluidised bed (CFB) systems

for coke combustion, used both to generate electricity and as a source of blocks for the building industry. Coke canalso be used to replace some or allof the clay used in making cement.

Coal ash can be used in a similarway to build roads, railways anddams, and to make concrete.Other ideas based on the use ofwaste include making structuralmaterials from other types ofprocess industry waste, recyclingof alkali in the pulp and paperindustry, integrated plants toproduce alcohol by fermen-tation, and better use of wasteheat and pressure.

In recycling, there is a need fortechnology and equipment todismantle electronic equipmentand cars, and sort the resultingmaterials. Other applications arein recycling paper, glass, plastics,rubber and batteries, withequipment for collecting,classifying, washing, crushing,packing, transporting andrecycling waste.

Altogether, 192 projects inintegrated waste disposal areplanned, among them 172 cityrubbish disposal items, with a total investment of 21.2 billionRMB. Furthermore China plans to build eight plants forhazardous waste disposal and 113plants for medical waste disposal,at a total cost of 19.5 billion RMBduring the time of the 10th Five-Year-Plan.

Environmental future

By 2005 the environmentalprotection industry will have amuch more competitive structuredominated by large companies.Product technology and qualitywill be better, and comparablewith the performance of 1990sequipment from Europe and theUSA.

By 2010 China will possess severallarge companies and groups withadvanced technology andconsiderable R&D muscle. By thistime China will be an importantexporter of environmentalequipment, technology andservices, and the environmentalindustry will contribute to thenational economy.

U.S.Phone: (716) 278-6233Fax: (716) 278-2373

EuropePhone: (49) 2166 55 090Fax: (49) 2166 55 0910

AsiaPhone: 81-3-3263-0282Fax: 81-3-3264-6010

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