Qingdao Sino French Hairun: century-old water plant’s journey to green growth and ecological protection
In line with the national strategy to become a Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) demonstration zone, and a global maritime hub, it is now imperative for Qingdao to expand its water production capacity to meet the city’s development needs. In 2002, Qingdao Sino French Hairun Water Supply Company Limited (“Sino French Hairun”), the first Sino-French public utility joint venture in Qingdao between SUEZ and Qingdao Hairun Water Group, was put into operation by the beautiful Baisha River. The JV mapped out a new blueprint for its owned century-old Xianjiazhai water treatment plant (WTP). In 2012, SUEZ invested in, built, and currently operates an industrial wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in Dongjiakou, Qingdao, to help a steel company achieve 100% reuse of industrial wastewater. This achievement epitomizes the circular economy in the Dongjiakou Economic Zone.
Currently, Sino French Hairun operates and manages two WTPs with a daily water production capacity of 726,000 m3, accounting for 85% of the total water supply of Qingdao urban area and serving more than 3 million citizens in this tourist hotspot also known as the “Switzerland of the East.”
Change starts with water quality
Transforming the traditional process for tertiary treatment
With the goal of improving the taste of tap water and the consistency of finished water quality for the entire city, Sino French Hairun launched full-scale, tertiary treatment projects at Xianjiazhai WTP in 2016 and Baisha River WTP in 2017. These projects use SUEZ’s integrated water treatment solution and tertiary treatment process. The water purification process involves ozone pretreatment, coagulation-sedimentation-sand filtration, ozone posttreatment and activated carbon filtration, as well as partial membrane treatment. In addition to the conventional treatment process, an ozone-activated carbon system and an ultrafiltration system are added to achieve full coverage of tertiary treatment. The treated water shows significantly improved quality in terms of organic matter removal, taste, the removal of turbidity, and bacterial and viral, etc.
The ultrafiltration membrane treatment process is deployed for critical infrastructure projects. There are rare ultrafiltration membrane treatment units built to this scale in China, and this successful implementation elevates water quality to the next level.
Ultrafiltration membrane treatment unit
Smart water management to reduce costs and enhance efficiency
Spreading the word on ecological protection and building a green environment together
- The successful deployment of the advanced treatment facility at the Baisha River WTP improves quality of life for Qingdao citizens and enhances the profile of Qingdao City, as well as that of Shandong Province.
- After tertiary treatment, the treated water meets EU direct drinking water standards and has the following water quality parameters:
- Turbidity ≤0.1 NTU
- 100% removal of Giardia and Cryptosporidium
- >99% bacteria removal
- >90% minimum virus removal rate
- The smart water plant provides new technologies and a vision to be able to support, in future, drinkable water directly from the tap for the city’s residents.