Shan Ying Pulp and Paper Mill -- Ma An Shan, Anhui, China

Anhui Ma An Shan - Shan Ying mill is located in Ma An Shan, approximately 260 km to the south east of Hefei, the capital of Anhui province. The mill is a state owned enterprise which was established in 1957. It presently (2001) has a workforce of 855 workers including 60 persons having a technical background. Its annual production capacity is of 140 000 tons. The mill operates seven paper machines producing cardboard, coated paper board, high and medium strength corrugated paper. The main raw materials used at the mill consist of commercial wood pulp, and domestic waste paper. Fresh water entering the process comes from the Yangtze river.

The mill is ISO 9002 certified. The mill sells its products to customers based in Anhui, Jiangsu, Shandong, Zhejiang, Fujiang, Guangdong, and Jiangxi provinces as well as in Shanghai.

The mill is not equipped with a conventional wastewater treatment plant. White water generated by each paper machine is directed to a common flotation unit. A good portion of the clarified water coming out of this unit is recycled to the process while the rest is discharged to the Yangtze river. The mill is equipped with an environmental monitoring laboratory where pH, SS, COD, and BOD are monitored three times a day. Short term monitoring results indicate that, except for COD, the mill appears to have complied with the national standards.

The mill set up a cleaner production team in August 2000. Since then, the mill has implemented sixteen CP solutions. Out of these sixteen solutions, four are no cost solutions, six are low costs, four are medium costs, and two are high cost. Mill management recently established two main long term objectives: Reducing COD by 60% in the wastewater effluent and reducing water consumption by 33%.

CP Solution Number	Implemented CP solution	Category of Solution
1	Budget revision – justification of consuming quotas	No cost
2	CP solutions – employees suggestions program	No cost
3	Raw material sorting	No cost
4	Recuperation of used hydraulic oils resulting from equipment maintenance	No cost
5	Starch addition to decrease the fibre content of the paper manufactured	Low cost
6	Purchasing laboratory equipment to measure BOD and COD	Low cost
7	Installation of a level indicator on the white water tank to avoid an overflow to the wastewater treatment plant	Low cost
8	Installation of an ultrasonic flowmeter at the outfall	Low cost
9	Selection of adequate wastewater treatment agents	Low cost
10	Utilization of recycled water instead of fresh water to clean strainers	Low cost
11	Installation of steam meters on each paper machine	Medium cost
12	Felt washing using mobile water pipe	Medium cost
13	Replacement of existing screens by a pressure screen	Medium cost
14	Addition of an extra screen on pulp reclaiming equipment	Medium cost
15	Water recycling after air flotation unit	High cost
16	Fibre recovery used to produce low grade paper	High cost