INTERNATIONAL CLEANER PRODUCTION INFORMATION CLEARINGHOUSE

CASE STUDY #77

1.  Headline: Cleaner Production in a Chinese brewery

2.   Background: Penglai County Brewery is located on the
     Jiaodong Peninsula, covers 79,000 square meters, and
     employs 320 workers. It produces 10 degree Baxian Beer,
     20,000 tons per year with a value of 25 million RMB Y
     (1993). About 400,000 RMB Y were invested to lay 600m of
     underground pipes to build five waste water pools for
     primary sedimentation with a capacity of 250,000 m3.  The
     waste water problem is solved by using it for irrigation
     of nearby farmland after primary sedimentation.

     Water consumption and beer loss per ton of beer are high,
     which increases pollution load.  During the brewery
     processing itself other wastes are also discharged such as
     yeast and kieselguhr.

3.  Cleaner Production Principle:

4.   Description of Cleaner Production Application:   The
     Penglai County Brewery participated in the preparation
     phase of the Cleaner Production Project in China funded by
     the World Bank. During 1993, representatives from the
     brewery, six other companies and institutions such as the
     National Environmental Protection Authority (NEPA), the
     Chinese Research Academy for Environmental Sciences
     (CRAES) and the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau
     (BEPB) were trained in cleaner production by consultants
     from UNEP/IE and IVAM Environmental Research (Amsterdam
     University). Part of the training included carrying out
     cleaner production assessments.

     Cleaner production audit team was set up and the team
     conducted a survey on each workshop of the company,
     collected necessary materials, the data on the consumption
     of raw materials and energy, and drew the process diagram.
     It was found survey that the water consumption and beer
     loss are high, which increased pollution load and waste
     water concentration. Thirty six cleaner production options
     were developed, 19 of which (non and low cost options)
     were implemented.

     For example, by carrying out options established to avoid
     spilling, dropping and leaking in workshops, water
     consumption was reduced by 20,000 tons, accounting for
     10,000 RMB Y.  Beer recovery equipment was also installed.
     This reduced beer loss further by .3%, which means saving
     60 tons beer, valued at 600,000 RMB Y per year.

     Enabling technology: The yeast discharged in the
     fermentation process contains a lot of beer which accounts
     for the major part of beer loss. The investigation made by
     the audit team showed that the beer loss in this part
     accounts for 2.2% of total production. The recovery of
     this beer will be critical for the reduction of product
     cost, beer loss and pollution load.

5.  Economics:

    Items                        RMB Y

Capital investment                 2.725 million
Cost saving for annual operation          0.796 million
Annual extra cash flow              0.89 million
Payback period                4 years
Net present value                  2.56 million
The internal rate of return              30 %

6.   Advantages: Based on 20,000 tons of beer a year, the
     option can recover 400 tons of beer and reduce 2% of beer
     loss and 6 tons of COD. Cost Saving is 560,000 RMB Y per
     year and it greatly cuts down pollution load.

7.  Constraints: No information is provided.

8.  Contacts:Zhenzhi Ma, Senior engineer
                       Luyang village, Djijia town
            Penglai, Shandong province
            Zip code: 265618
            China
            Tel: +86 5457 683252 ext.2663

9.  Keywords:China, brewery


10.  Reviewer's Comments:  This case study was taken from the
     document:  "Cleaner Production in China," published by the
     National Environmental Protection Agency of China.  It was
     edited for the ICPIC diskette in August 1995, but has not
     undergone a formal technical review.