Zhangjiagang plant in China receives accreditation for its environmental efforts

Calderys' Zhangjiagang plant has become the only company in the refractory industry in the province of Jiangsu to be recognized by the local government as a leading environmental protection plant.

This accreditation is the result of years of hard work at the plant to enhance its environmental efforts and surpass national requirements. 

Ricken Ren, Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) Supervisor, says: “In 2016, the plant improved the quality of its raw materials. With major work no longer required to lessen the water content of the materials, it was able to reduce the use of its dry kiln, which uses natural gases in its drying process, in turn greatly reducing the plant’s energy consumption.”

The plant team also installed dust-seal partitioning to minimize dust coming into contact with its workers, products and machines, as well as dust collection pipes to ensure it could be collected and disposed of effectively. 

Vehicle emissions were also a source of concern, so an identification system was installed at the plant, requiring all vehicles entering the site to meet the national emissions standards. “Our strong performance in environmental protection sets us apart from other companies, and it gives us a further advantage as it allows us to operate during pollution-driven shutdown periods, when other organizations can’t.”, explains Ricken.

Treating environmental protection as a way of life

 The plant has already reduced its natural gas usage by 23,000m3 per year and, according to dust emission detection results, its average emission concentration is 4.3mg/m3 – far lower than the national standard requirement of 120mg/m3. 

“Keeping the plant’s environmental impact as low as possible is a never-ending job, and we can’t lose focus. We perform daily checks to ensure devices such as our dust collectors are working effectively, and we are always monitoring our emissions during operation according to national laws. Every department worked together on environmental protection performance. It's a great team work result.”, concludes Ricken.