MIIT Enhances Promotion of Cleaner Production in Caustic Soda Industry      

Following the formal implementation of "Cleaner Production Standard for Chlor-alkali Industry" on October 1st, 2009, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) on November 19th issued a draft version of "Cleaner Production Promotion Program for Caustic Soda Industry" - not only once again clearly states the current production status and existing problems in the caustic soda industry, but also give out the physical implementation plan and measures. The program is initially set to be implemented between 2009 and 2011.    
   MIIT also points out that there are still many problems in China's chlor-alkali industry at present: energy reservation and emission reduction needs to be further enhanced, capital invested in cleaner production technologies is insufficient, and the development of key materials and innovation of technologies are not enough. As for these issues, the program states that in 2009-2011, the caustic soda production process and key equipment will be upgraded in four steps.
   The program will promote the application of a series of cleaner production technologies, mainly focusing on the use of ion-exchange membrane electrolyzer to replace the traditional metal diaphragm electrolytic cell, the expanded anode technological transformation of the diaphragm caustic soda process, the promotion of the membrane-based denitration technology and the triple-effect countercurrent-film evaporator system to gradually achieve good energy-saving and emission-reducing results in the caustic soda industry.
   It should be noted that the promotion of the ion-exchange membrane caustic soda unit will be the most important part of the industry's cleaner production promotion effort. China will continue to encourage the use of ion-exchange membrane caustic soda units in caustic soda producers. It is anticipated that this will be a long-term development initiatives for enterprises to follow.