[Chinese Mainland] JINGYE GROUP's "Ultrafiltration + Reverse Osmosis" Zero Liquid Discharge Benchmark: Annual Freshwater Savings of 7.4 Million m³, Covering the Plant Area and Surrounding Villages and Towns

Advanced Deeds of the China Water Conservation Award 9 月 4 日 Released: Liu Hude, Deputy General Manager of Jingye Group, led the 2014 年 investment of 1.17 亿 yuan to build a "Ultrafiltration + Reverse Osmosis" Zero Liquid Discharge project, treating all production and domestic sewage in the plant area and covering surrounding villages and towns, schools, and resorts, saving 740 万 m³ of fresh water annually, and reducing local investment in sewage treatment facilities by nearly 1 亿 yuan; combined with a series of integrated upgrades including converting wet processes to dry processes, slag quenching with concentrated water, and patented water treatment technologies, Jingye Steel has built a water resource recycling system of "full-domain recovery and cascade utilization," serving as a representative model of Zero Liquid Discharge in the steel industry.

I. Background of the Zero Liquid Discharge Project: Covering the Plant Area + Surrounding Villages and Towns, 1.17 亿 yuan Leveraging 740 万 m³/year of Water Savings

Jingye Group is one of China's leading private steel enterprises. Steel production involves large water consumption and multiple processes, leaving enormous room for water conservation. 2014 年, under the leadership of Liu Hude, an investment of 1.17 亿 yuan was made to launch the "Ultrafiltration + Reverse Osmosis" Zero Liquid Discharge project, with the goal of treating all production and domestic sewage in the plant area and serving surrounding villages and towns, schools, and resorts, forming a new model of "enterprise-led, locally-serving."

The core process route of the project is the "Ultrafiltration + Reverse Osmosis" dual-membrane method, and the treated water is reused in grades according to water quality:

• Reclaimed Water — used for plant greening, firefighting, dust suppression, and other applications with lower water quality requirements;
• Reverse Osmosis Permeate — water quality superior to tap water, supplied to the plant's softening water station and demineralized water station as production make-up water;
• Reverse Osmosis Concentrate — with relatively high salinity, entirely used for steelmaking slag quenching, ironmaking slag flushing, and other industrial processes not in contact with food/daily life, truly achieving "Zero Liquid Discharge" of sewage.

After the project was put into operation, it produced significant water-saving and pollution-reduction benefits:

• Saving 740 万 m³ of fresh water annually — equivalent to the annual residential water consumption of a medium-sized city;
• Reducing local investment in sewage treatment facilities by nearly 1 亿 yuan — surrounding villages and towns, schools, and resorts no longer need to build their own sewage treatment facilities;
• The project's own investment payback period is approximately 5–7 年 — calculated based on water price differentials, sewage fee savings, and local subsidies.

II. Quality Improvement and Expansion: From 740 万 m³ to "Full-Domain Recovery and Cascade Utilization"

The 1.17 亿 yuan Zero Liquid Discharge project was only the starting point of Jingye Group's water conservation and efficiency enhancement. Liu Hude continued to promote the expansion, quality improvement, and efficiency enhancement of water-saving upgrades, building a water resource recycling system of "full-domain recovery and cascade utilization":

• Expansion of Reclaimed Water Pipeline Network — promoting the construction of sewage recovery pipelines, increasing Reclaimed Water by over 1 000 m³ per day, extending Reclaimed Water from within the plant to a broader range of industrial users;
• Optimization of Cascade Water Use Processes — optimizing cascade water use between various processes, reducing fresh water consumption by 4 000 m³ per day;
• Introduction of High-Pressure Reverse Osmosis Technology — introducing high-pressure Reverse Osmosis technology to further improve the concentrate reuse rate, maximizing the resource utilization of high-salinity concentrate that previously had to be discharged;
• Inverted Block Water Pricing and Technical Upgrade Incentives — implementing an "inverted block" water pricing mechanism at the enterprise level, providing price incentives to departments that use Reclaimed Water in excess, stimulating water conservation initiative among all employees.

III. Source Reduction in Processes: Converting Wet Processes to Dry Processes, Acid Addition for Alkalinity Reduction, and Slag Quenching Water Replacement

Water conservation must be pursued simultaneously from both source reduction and process upgrading. Liu Hude promoted the implementation of a series of key upgrades:

• Wet-to-dry conversion of dedusting for sintering, pelletizing and converter — replacing high-water-consumption wet dedusting with dry dedusting saves over 93 万 m³ of water annually;
• Circulating water system optimization and acid dosing for alkalinity reduction — reducing blowdown volume through water quality regulation saves over 125 万 m³ of water annually;
• Replacing fresh water with Reverse Osmosis concentrate for converter slag quenching make-up — the slag quenching process has low water quality requirements but high water consumption; substituting with Reverse Osmosis concentrate saves 38 万 m³ of water annually;
• Advanced treatment of primary water using patented water treatment technology — introducing patented technology for advanced treatment of primary water to improve its recycling rate saves 182 万 m³ of water annually.

The four source-level retrofits save a total of 438 万 m³ of water annually, forming a complete water-saving loop of "end-of-pipe zero discharge + source reduction" together with the 740 万 m³/year from the zero discharge project.

IV. Management Upgrade: Three-Level Water-Saving Management Network + 100% Metering Instrument Coverage

Water saving relies not only on technology but also on management. Liu Hude led the establishment of a "company—business division—process" three-level water-saving management network, set up a water-saving management committee, established a dedicated water affairs section, and assigned water-saving responsibilities to every position and every process:

• Water consumption indicators linked to compensation — implementing differentiated assessment and monthly reporting, using positive incentives and rigid constraints to make "water saving means efficiency improvement" deeply rooted in people's minds;
• Full coverage of primary, secondary and tertiary metering instruments 100% — all water usage data uploaded to the energy management and control platform in real time;
• Centralized water affairs management and control system — capable of dynamic scheduling based on production demand, avoiding "leaks and spills" and redundant water use, so that every drop of water delivers maximum value.

V. Impact on TIANYI TECH's Industrial Wastewater Zero Liquid Discharge Business

Jingye Group's "Ultrafiltration + Reverse Osmosis" zero discharge demonstration is one of the most convincing local cases for TIANYI TECH in the Industrial Wastewater Zero Liquid Discharge track. The company can directly draw on it and develop solution outputs in the following four directions:

• "Ultrafiltration + RO" dual-membrane process package — Jingye Group's solution proves that "Ultrafiltration + Reverse Osmosis" is fully feasible for advanced treatment and reuse of integrated steelmaking wastewater; the company's membrane modules and process packages can be directly benchmarked against it;
• Full concentrate reuse closed-loop design — using Reverse Osmosis concentrate for "non-contact industrial water" such as slag quenching and slag flushing is a key design approach for full concentrate reuse, and the company can promote it in the chemical, power and mining sectors;
• Three-level water-saving management + digital control — Jingye's experience shows that water-saving management must be deeply integrated with water consumption indicators, compensation incentives and online monitoring; the company's SCADA platform, intelligent chemical dosing system and water consumption benchmarking system are capable of direct integration;
• Integrated water supply model for surrounding areas — opening up the plant's wastewater treatment facilities to serve surrounding villages, schools and resorts is a win-win model for enterprises to fulfill social responsibility and expand business boundaries, and can be promoted in Industrial Parks.

Source: Hebei Economic Daily, "China Water Conservation Award Advanced Deeds | Jingye Group Deputy General Manager Liu Hude: Deepening Industrial Water Conservation to Build a Green Steel Enterprise" (2026-09-04).

About TIANYI TECH Co., Ltd.

TIANYI TECH Co., Ltd. is an international water service provider specializing in the R&D, engineering, procurement and construction, and operation and maintenance services of wastewater treatment and Reclaimed Water Reuse equipment. Its business covers the full chain of scenarios including advanced treatment and Zero Liquid Discharge of Industrial Wastewater, centralized treatment of Domestic Sewage and Industrial Park wastewater, Reclaimed Water utilization, seawater desalination pretreatment, and sludge resource utilization. With "TIANYI LIMITED" as its unified brand identity, the company is deeply engaged in markets along the "Belt and Road" including Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa, providing customers with full-cycle solutions from feasibility study, design, equipment manufacturing, installation and commissioning to operation trusteeship.