Interpreting battery industry pollutant discharge standards

The recently released "Battery Industrial Pollutants Emission Standard" (GB 30484-2013) is of great significance to China's implementation of international environmental protection conventions and the prevention and control of heavy metal pollution. The responsible person of the Department of Science and Technology Standards of the Ministry of Environmental Protection accepted an interview with reporters on how to understand and implement The standard answers questions from reporters.

1. What is the setting background of the "Battery Industry Pollutant Emission Standard"?

China is the world's largest battery producer and exporter. Among them, exports of zinc-manganese batteries exceed 60%, exports of secondary batteries exceed 65%, and exports of solar cells exceed 90%. At the same time, with the rapid development of industries such as automobiles, electric vehicles, and communications, the battery industry still has much room for development in China.

The battery industry is a key industry for heavy metal consumption and emissions. In recent years, heavy metal pollution accidents have occurred frequently. The State has issued the “12th Five-Year Plan for Comprehensive Prevention and Control of Heavy Metal Pollution” and other documents to comprehensively strengthen environmental supervision of heavy metal-related industries such as lead-acid battery production. At present, China's battery industry implements the "Integrated Wastewater Discharge Standard" (GB 8978-1996) and "Integrated Emission Standard for Air Pollutants" (GB 16297-1996). The entry threshold is low and the target is not strong enough. It is necessary to formulate a stricter implementation. The emission standards have raised the barriers to entry into the industry environment. For this reason, the Ministry of Environmental Protection decided to formulate the "Emission Standards for Pollutants in the Battery Industry".

2. How does the "Battery Industry Pollutant Emission Standard" improve emission control requirements?

First, the overall tightening of pollutant emission limits, including existing and new battery companies, lead, mercury, cadmium, nickel, zinc, manganese, silver and other pollutant emission limits, and unregulated emissions limits at the factory boundary; Second, Enhancing the operability of standards, clearly defining the pollution factors that different types of battery companies should focus on; Third, embodying the principle of total control, setting the reference drainage volume of different types of battery units; Fourth, further strengthening the applicability of the standard and deleting the actual The maximum allowable emission rate regulations that are difficult to operate at work; Fifth, the special emission limits for pollutants that are applicable to environmentally sensitive areas have been added.

3. What level of emission control is the "Battery Industry Pollutant Emission Standard"?

The pollutant emission limits set by the "Battery Industry Pollutant Discharge Standard" are stricter than the current national comprehensive emission standards and are also stricter than some of the existing local emission standards, which is equivalent to the average level of control in developed countries. In areas with heavy accumulation of heavy metals, it is necessary to formulate more stringent local discharge standards, or to set more stringent control requirements through environmental assessment approvals and emission permits. This standard clearly states: “This standard is the discharge of battery industry pollutants. Basic requirements for control: Local provincial people's governments may formulate local pollutant discharge standards for pollutant items that are not specified in this standard; for those pollutant items that have been specified in this standard, local pollutant discharge standards that are stricter than this standard may be formulated. When the environmental impact assessment documents are required to be stricter than this standard or local standards, they shall be implemented in accordance with the approved environmental impact assessment documents."

4. What costs and benefits are expected from the Battery Industry Pollutant Emission Standard?

After implementation of this standard, it is estimated that the annual discharge of waste water from the battery industry can be reduced by 700,000 tons; the COD emissions can be reduced by 448 tons; the lead and cadmium emissions from water can be reduced by 3.74 tons and 0.04 tons, respectively, and the lead emissions from the atmosphere can be reduced by 15 tons. Correspondingly, the battery industry needs to increase environmental protection investment. The new environmental protection investment is about 1.6 billion yuan, and the annual operating cost is 200 million yuan. From the perspective of controlling heavy metal pollution, promoting technical progress and structural optimization of the battery industry, it is expected that the environmental benefits and investment intensity are appropriate, and the compliance cost can be borne by the battery industry. Of course, some technological processes are backward and the pollution is serious. Enterprises that rely on “environmental dividends” to survive will be eliminated.

5. What are the feasible standards for the battery industry?

Enterprises should adopt measures controlled by the whole process to prevent and reduce the generation and emission of pollutants. In terms of raw materials, the use of raw and auxiliary materials as substitutes to reduce the emission of toxic and hazardous substances; in terms of products, by reducing the consumption of heavy metals such as lead by reducing the consumption of heavy metals such as lead and charcoal batteries by changing the product structure; Technologies such as internalization and automated assembly reduce the consumption of raw and auxiliary materials and the pollutant load generated by pollutants. In terms of pollution control, the total amount of pollutants is reduced through deep treatment and recycling of waste water and multi-stage treatment of exhaust gas; in terms of environmental management, Strengthen environmental supervision and monitoring, improve management systems and other measures to reduce environmental risks and curb heavy metal pollution accidents.

6. Why did the new standard increase the regulations regarding the environmental quality monitoring of the company's surroundings?

Heavy metal pollutants can be enriched in crowds, soils, and water bodies around the company, with long-term, cumulative, hidden, and latent features. Even if the company discharges the standard, long-term accumulation will cause some pollution to the surrounding soil, plants, and people, causing pollution accidents. The discovery of environmental problems and the solution to cumulative environmental pollution is to increase environmental monitoring. The National Environmental Monitoring “Twelfth Five-Year Plan” and the “Notice on Strengthening Pollution Prevention and Control of Lead-Acid Batteries and Recycled Lead Industry” and related local policies and regulations have all put forward the requirements for strengthening the monitoring of heavy metals in the surrounding environment of enterprises, and have recently been issued by the Ministry of Environmental Protection. The Measures for Self-Monitoring and Information Disclosure of the State Key Monitoring Enterprises (Trial) and the Measures for Supervision and Information Disclosure of Pollution Sources of the State Key Controlled Enterprises (Trial Implementation) require requirements for the establishment of an enterprise self-monitoring and reporting system. The basic principles and principles The sexual provisions are included in this standard.