East China Lubricant Plant Designated a "Circular Economy Pilot Enterprise" of Suzhou City

Recently, the East China Lubricant Plant was designated a "circular economy pilot enterprise" of Suzhou City.
Since it was built, the East China Lubricant Plant has been committed to clean production and, in December 2006, passed the clean production audit and acceptance jointly organized by the Suzhou Economic and Trade Commission and Environmental Protection Bureau and the Taicang Economic and Trade Commission and Environmental Protection Bureau. On this basis, the plant responded to the local government's call on circular economy work and identified directions for its efforts such as reasonable control of energy consumption, discharge of sewage meeting standards, recovery and utilisation of steam condensate, and rational use of top-line oil and tank-cleaning oil.
The practical operating principles of the circular economy are "reduce, reuse and recycle." It advocates an economic development model in harmony with the environment and requires economic activities to be organized into a flow of "resources - products - renewable energy," characterised by low extraction, high utilisation and low emissions.
In terms of energy consumption, at the start of 2008 the plant management set up a project and organized efforts to tackle energy saving and consumption reduction, making detailed arrangements for the use of water, electricity and steam and drawing up detailed measures to ensure that progress in production process control was made step by step and according to plan, so as to strive to meet the power assessment targets issued by the company. First, measures such as renovating the additive tank process, rationally using heating boxes, and renovating the processes of pumps P400 and 404 were adopted to save steam. Second, operations for launching and receiving pipeline pigs were standardised, and measures such as controlling the air pressure of pig launching and receiving operations and correspondingly reducing the running time of air compressors were taken to reduce air consumption. Third, management was strengthened, with measures such as rationally controlling the running time of compressors, controlling the lighting time of the facilities and standardising the control of electric heat tracing adopted to save electricity. Fourth, consumption of fresh water was reduced, with emphasis on economy, reducing leaks and spills and avoiding constantly running water. In particular, during in-plant construction in 2008, when 11 storage tanks needed to be washed and pressure-tested with water, the plant management implemented a temporary process and did not use fresh water, instead drawing water from the Dasha River for pressure testing and reusing it in circulation, thereby reducing fresh water consumption.
In terms of sewage discharge, the plant has set up a sewage tank where oil and water can be separated, with the sewage going to the pipe network for discharge. However, the sewage within the plant is all domestic sewage, which is discharged to the municipal sewage network of the port area for unified treatment. The plant has established a spot-check mechanism, regularly inspecting valve wells and regularly sampling sewage. COD, pH value and petroleum content in the sewage all meet discharge standards, bringing convenience to downstream disposal.
In terms of recovering and utilising steam condensate, the plant recovers all the condensate produced by the steam used in the finished oil tanks, additive tanks and heating boxes into a hot water tank and, starting from day-to-day management, continuously raises the utilisation rate of steam condensate. The circulating water, condensate and domestic water systems within the facilities are used with a refined division of labour to raise the efficiency of condensate utilisation, so that steam condensate is rationally used.
In terms of rationally utilising top-line oil and tank-cleaning oil, the plant first sorts and recovers these by category, marking them clearly and establishing detailed ledgers to facilitate the next stage of handling. Second, operators are trained and checked, with the requirement that each drum of top-line oil pass inspection by additive personnel during addition, using a sampling tube to sample and inspect the appearance of the oil, while management personnel carry out quality supervision spot checks on the top-line oil, which may only be blended after passing. In 2008, the rational utilisation of top-line oil, tank-cleaning oil and tank-washing oil saved 910,000 yuan in costs.
Through the series of work carried out in 2008, the East China Lubricant Plant achieved certain results in the circular economy, and it stated that in the future it will continue to do a good job in energy saving and consumption reduction and strive to produce with low energy consumption; raise the rate of steam condensate recycling and reduce unnecessary venting and overflow; continue to handle top-line oil and tank-cleaning oil well and save costs rationally; and continue to ensure that sewage discharge meets standards.