Roaring noise, gray skies, and flying dust—this has been the long-standing impression of mortar and concrete enterprises. However, these stereotypes have been completely overturned in Guangzhou's green-certified companies. A clean and tidy factory area, green enclosed production towers, well-planned sand material workshops, and transport vehicles ready to depart... This is the scene the reporter recently witnessed at Guangzhou Yingjian Concrete Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Yingjian Company) in Panyu District, Guangzhou. The company is one of the first five ready-mixed concrete "Green Production Certified Enterprises" in Guangzhou.

Mixing plants achieve "three insurances" for quality control

Green production is the main direction for the transformation and development of ready-mixed concrete enterprises, and it is also a severe challenge to the ready-mixed concrete industry.

In 2014, the Guangzhou Municipal Housing and Urban-Rural Development Commission and other departments jointly issued the "Guangzhou Ready-Mixed Commercial Concrete Enterprise Green Production Management Regulations" and the "Notice on Matters Concerning the Green Production Certification Assessment of Ready-Mixed Commercial Concrete Enterprises," requiring ready-mixed concrete enterprises to implement green production upgrades. A "green storm" swept through Guangzhou's ready-mixed concrete enterprises.

Unlike other building materials enterprises, in order to truly achieve green and environmentally friendly concrete production, Yingjian Company invested funds to upgrade and renovate the production lines and equipment of the original company, and also invested tens of millions of yuan to re-plan and deploy the production workshop, establishing Yingjian Company. A new fully enclosed green and environmentally friendly quasi-mixing building was built, implementing "ground silo type · fully enclosed" production. Three concrete production lines were configured to high standards, with an annual production capacity of 1.8 million square meters. The production mixing system all adopts the well-known Italian brand Sicoma mixer, and the mixer is equipped with high-definition cameras to achieve real-time video monitoring of the mixing process. It is equipped with an advanced Zhimei 3500 operating system to achieve precise measurement and precise operation. A central dispatch room was established, equipped with an advanced GPS dispatch system to achieve effective monitoring of the entire transportation process of concrete and mortar. Nine research laboratories for mortar and concrete, covering 300 square meters, were specially set up, and cooperation with the School of Materials Science and Engineering of South China University of Technology was established to strengthen the research and use of high-performance and high-strength concrete. In 2015, the enterprise passed the green production assessment of the Guangzhou Housing and Urban-Rural Development Commission, obtained the green production certification, and became the first model mixing plant and green production model station in Guangzhou.

After a year, more than 10 certified enterprises in Guangzhou have become fully enclosed green and environmentally friendly mixing plants, achieving "three insurances" for quality, two-waste control, and dust and noise reduction. First, an enterprise "black box" was installed in the central control room of the production line, connected to the real-time video monitoring system of the Guangzhou Municipal Housing and Urban-Rural Development Commission to ensure official supervision of the production process. Second, a production wastewater and waste treatment system was established. The waste residue and waste materials generated during production are separated by a sand and gravel separator and then recycled. The generated sewage is circulated through sedimentation into a clean water tank and then used for vehicle cleaning and production, achieving zero discharge of production solids and production sewage. Third, the production line, sand and gravel material storage yard, and feeding conveyor belt are managed in an enclosed manner, and advanced technology is adopted, equipped with advanced dust collection and noise reduction equipment, to achieve dust and noise reduction in the production process and realize green and environmentally friendly production.

Annual dust emission reduction of nearly 2,000 tons

It is understood that there are more than 120 concrete enterprises in Guangzhou. In the past, due to uneven distribution, there was a "clustering" phenomenon, and most had extensive management and backward environmental protection facilities, which brought great inconvenience to supervision. After the implementation of the green environmental protection transformation and upgrading action, dust, waste residue, noise, etc. during the production and transportation process of enterprises have been effectively controlled.

Xiao Aiping, Executive Director of the Ready-Mixed Mortar Association of the China Building Materials Federation, Vice Chairman of the Guangdong Wall Material Association, and Chairman of Yingjian Company, stated that in terms of dust control, concrete green upgrade certified enterprises can reduce external emissions by more than 90%, and some enterprises have achieved fully enclosed operation of material silos. If calculated based on 50 grams of dust generated per cubic meter of concrete before green transformation and the city's annual production of more than 40 million cubic meters of concrete, green transformation will reduce atmospheric dust emissions by 2,000 tons. In terms of reducing sewage discharge and saving water, through the transformation of the recycling system for production and cleaning water in the factory area, annual wastewater discharge can be reduced and water saved by more than 5 million tons.

In addition, through the promotion of green transformation and upgrading work, every enterprise has implemented a system of washing concrete mixer trucks when entering and leaving the factory area and construction site, eliminating the phenomenon of throwing, spilling, dripping, and leaking during vehicle driving, and reducing dust during transportation.

The person in charge of the Bulk Cement Office of the Guangzhou Municipal Housing and Urban-Rural Development Commission stated that in the next stage, Guangzhou will continue to consolidate the green transformation achievements of concrete mixing plants that have already met the standards, further increase the intensity of green transformation of concrete mixing plants in the city, and strive to fully complete the green transformation of all concrete enterprises in the city by 2017, so that all concrete mixing plants complete "green transformation" and become "Green Production Certified Enterprises." Enterprises that do not meet the regulatory requirements will be suspended.