Unit: mg/m3
From July 1 year, the thermal power plants built 20 12 years ago in China began to implement the new version of air pollutant emission standards. Known as the most stringent emission standard for thermal power plants in history, it is equivalent to the current standards of developed economies such as the European Union, Japan, Canada and Australia, and will greatly reduce the emissions of pollutants such as soot, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides from thermal power plants in China.
In order to meet the emission standards, domestic thermal power enterprises have been accelerating the emission reduction process in the fields of desulfurization, denitrification and dust removal of coal-fired units for more than two years. However, there are still many enterprises that are slow to move. On June 12, the Ministry of Environmental Protection issued the largest 400 million fine in history, aiming at various problems existing in emission reduction of thermal power enterprises. Pushing the most stringent emission standards of air pollutants from thermal power plants to the ground will be the next serious task. Where should we start?
Stricter than the EU.
Thermal power industry is the most important part of air pollutant emission. According to statistics, in 20 12, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides emitted by thermal power industry in China accounted for about 42% and 40% of the total emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides in China. At the same time, the thermal power industry also emits 15 10000 tons of smoke and dust, accounting for about 20% to 30% of industrial emissions. It is imperative to control smog and improve the emission standards of thermal power industry.
Air pollutants such as soot, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides from thermal power plants are important sources of smog, and the strictness of emission standards directly affects air quality. Compared with the first emission standard of air pollutants for thermal power plants in China implemented in 2004, the emission limits of sulfur dioxide, soot and nitrogen oxides are obviously tightened.
Take sulfur dioxide as an example. In the new standard, the emission limit of sulfur dioxide for existing coal-fired boilers is 200mg per cubic meter, and that for new boilers is 100mg. In the Emission Standard of Air Pollutants for Thermal Power Plants implemented in 2004, the emission limit of sulfur dioxide from coal-fired boilers is 400 mg per cubic meter.
Compared with foreign environmental standards, the strictness of the new standards has not diminished at all. Still taking sulfur dioxide as an example, the emission limit of sulfur dioxide from new boilers in China is per cubic meter 100 mg. It is pointed out in the compilation notes of Emission Standard of Air Pollutants for Thermal Power Plants that EU Directive 200 1/80/EC requires that the emission concentration of new large-scale combustion devices must be less than 200mg, and the new source emission limit set by the United States in 2005 is equivalent to 184mg/m3. It can be seen that the emission limit of sulfur dioxide in China is stricter than the current standards of developed countries such as the European Union and the United States.
Moreover, the new standard also stipulates that the existing coal-fired boilers of thermal power enterprises must meet the requirements of "smoke emission less than 30 mg/m3 and nitrogen oxide emission less than 100 mg/m3". In addition, the mandatory pollutant emission index has been increased from three to four, especially the mercury emission limit standard.
Don't underestimate these changes. After the implementation of the new standard, by 20 15 years, the emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides in the power industry can be reduced by 6180,000 tons and 5.8 million tons respectively. In addition, the implementation of the new standard has obvious emission reduction effect on particulate matter, mercury and other pollutants in the power industry.
"Thermal power enterprises should actively undertake environmental responsibility. At present, the environmental protection emission standards implemented by thermal power plants are very strict, higher than or equivalent to the emission standards of the European Union and the United States, and higher and stricter environmental protection standards should be implemented in the future. " Lu Qizhou, general manager of China Power Investment Corporation, said.
How difficult is the standard "landing"
Only by strictly implementing the strictest environmental standards can the environmental quality be effectively improved. However, it is not easy to make the most stringent pollutant emission standards of thermal power plants "shine into reality".
On June 12, the Ministry of Environmental Protection issued the biggest fine of 400 million yuan in history, which was the desulfurization and denitrification problem of thermal power enterprises. The ticket pointed out that Shenyang Huarun Thermal Power Co., Ltd. and other 19 enterprises have problems such as abnormal operation of desulfurization devices, abnormal use of automatic monitoring systems, fraudulent monitoring data, and excessive discharge of sulfur dioxide.
The above is not a case. Since the publication of Atmosphere Ten, the Ministry of Environmental Protection has punished the poor operation of environmental protection equipment such as desulfurization facilities in many enterprises. Why can't desulfurization facilities run stably under heavy pressure? Relevant experts pointed out that from the perspective of enterprises, there are objective problems such as technology, engineering, management and operating costs, as well as subjective factors such as indifference to responsibility; From the perspective of regulatory authorities, there is still much room for improvement in the ability, level and efficiency of environmental monitoring and law enforcement supervision.
In this regard, Feng Yinchang, a professor at the School of Environmental Science and Engineering of Nankai University, was deeply touched. "At this stage, an important factor in corporate tax evasion is that compliance costs are higher than illegal costs." He said that in fact, the cost of capital, manpower and time required for the purchase, operation and maintenance of decontamination equipment is far higher than the cost of fines imposed by enterprises after illegal sewage discharge.
The huge cost investment should not be underestimated. In the Notes on the Compilation of Air Pollutant Emission Standards for Thermal Power Plants, it has been predicted that the economic benefits of desulfurization after the implementation of the new standards are: by 20 15 years, there will be 1.3 1 100 million kilowatts of new thermal power units that need to install flue gas desulfurization devices. If the high-efficiency wet limestone-gypsum method is adopted, the investment for installing desulfurization device for newly-built units is 130 yuan. If the unit runs for 5,000 hours a year and the operating cost of desulfurization per kWh is 0.0 15 yuan, the operating cost of flue gas desulfurization device for newly-built thermal power units will be 9.8 billion yuan/year by 20 15, and 28.6 billion yuan/year by 2020. In addition, some existing units also need funds to carry out flue gas desulfurization transformation.
"In addition, it is difficult for enterprises to obtain evidence of pollution. Under the balance, some companies will take risks. " Feng Yinchang said frankly.
In Feng Yinchang's view, if strict environmental standards are to "land", first of all, enterprises should establish a green management concept of environmental priority. "Environmental resources are a kind of public resources, and each of us needs to obtain life resources from sunlight, soil, water and other substances. Since the production of enterprises enjoys public resources and sewage discharge may cause pollution to them, they should do their duty. "
Feng Yinchang suggested that, secondly, it is necessary to increase environmental penalties and form sufficient deterrence for enterprises that evade payment. This requires strengthening the construction of law enforcement team, improving the level of law enforcement and the ability of obtaining evidence, and giving them greater power.
The problem cannot be avoided, but objectively speaking, in recent years, the desulfurization work of China's power enterprises has indeed made great progress. Relevant data show that in 2005, only 12% of power plants in China had desulfurization facilities, and now it has reached 9 1.6%. It is through the joint efforts of the thermal power industry and many other industries in energy conservation and emission reduction that China's sulfur dioxide emissions decreased by 9.9% in the first three years of the Twelfth Five-Year Plan.
Open up new space for environmental protection industry
Strict environmental protection standards "forced" thermal power enterprises to increase investment in air pollution control, and also promoted the development of environmental protection industries such as desulfurization and denitrification into a "golden period", especially the denitrification market showed explosive growth.
Compared with the saturated desulfurization market, the denitration market has a broader prospect. The "Twelfth Five-Year" comprehensive work plan for energy conservation and emission reduction requires that all newly-built coal-fired units should be equipped with denitration facilities, and all coal-fired units with a single capacity of 300,000 kilowatts or more should be equipped with denitration facilities. According to the latest statistics of China Electric Power Enterprise Association, by the end of 20 13, the denitration units put into operation nationwide only account for 50% of the capacity of active units. In this regard, some experts predict that the domestic thermal power denitrification market will have a space of 100 billion yuan this year and next.
Although the market is attractive, it is not easy for environmental protection enterprises to get a slice of it. "Implementing such strict standards is very stressful for thermal power plants." This is a consistent problem reflected by many thermal power enterprises. For environmental protection enterprises, to seize business opportunities, it is necessary to achieve the "best combination" of governance effect and cost. "At present, the market needs environmental protection equipment with good emission reduction effect and affordable cost." Liu Zhengjun, vice president of China Environmental Protection Industry Association and chairman of Yongqing Environmental Protection Co., Ltd. said.
In the first half of this year, Yongqing Environmental Protection accumulated hundreds of millions of orders in the fields of denitrification and desulfurization. In May and June, Yongqing Environmental Protection won the bid for the denitration project of Unit 3 of China Guodian Yuanbaoshan Power Generation Co., Ltd. and the desulfurization and denitration reconstruction project of Units 2 and 3 of Shandong Huayu Aluminum Power Co., Ltd., with a total contract amount of 22 1 10,000 yuan. Piaohong's performance is based on the patent technology cluster of more than 20 enterprises.
For environmental protection enterprises, if they want to win business opportunities in the air treatment market, they must have their own core technologies. Zhao Jianfei, chairman of Beijing Hechen Environmental Engineering Co., Ltd., was deeply touched by this: "Today, the environmental pollution situation is extremely severe and complicated, and pollution control is becoming more and more difficult. Only by constantly innovating technology can we get rid of the' hard bones' and avoid the vicious competition of' price war'. "
Companies in Zhao Jianfei also rely on the new bag-type dust removal technology with independent intellectual property rights, which not only achieves good emission reduction effect, but also saves 2.5 million yuan in operating expenses every year compared with traditional dust removal technology, thus winning the market.