Sembcorp Industries says it has completed the second industrial wastewater treatment business in China. The 12,500 cubic metres per day plant in the Nanjing Chemical Industrial Park (NCIP) will be capable of treating industrial wastewater, including industrial wastewater with a high concentration of up to 4,000 milligrammes per litre chemical oxygen demand.

This plant will treat third-party customers’ high concentration industrial wastewater directly from source without customers having to invest in pre-treatment facilities. Sembcorp says government regulations usually require industrial companies to pre-treat their wastewater to a chemical oxygen demand of not more than 500 milligrammes per litre, before discharging the wastewater for treatment.

The decision to permit industrial companies to discharge their wastewater directly to a facility, without needing the companies to pre-treat the wastewater, signifies a new initiative by the government for advanced wastewater management in China.

Sembcorp’s earlier 15,000 cubic metres per day plant in the Zhangjiagang Free Trade Port Zone which opened in May, was the first in China where industrial customers were allowed to do away with this pre-treatment step.

The NCIP is the second chemical industrial park in China to be accorded State-level Chemical Hub status. Costing RMB 92.3 million ($19.1 million), this new plant will meet the increasing customer demand for effective industrial wastewater treatment in the NCIP, where Sembcorp has existing water and wastewater treatment operations serving over 40 multinational companies and local enterprises.

With this new plant, Sembcorp’s combined water and wastewater treatment capacity in operation and under development in China will total over 400,000 cubic metres per day.