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2026-10-11Key Fact: On 2026年10月6日 local time, the International Water Association (IWA) World Water Congress & Exhibition was held in Glasgow, UK. The "Water-Energy Coupling" Wastewater Resource Recovery Project for Mega-Cities at the Zhengzhou New District Wastewater Treatment Plant of Zhongyuan Environmental Protection Co., Ltd. won the Gold Award in the "Water Technology and Infrastructure That Change the Market" category of the "Project Innovation Awards," and also claimed the sole "Grand Innovation Award (GIA)" of this congress. The plant is China's 7th million-ton-scale wastewater treatment plant, with a wastewater treatment capacity of 100万 tons/day, and its main effluent indicators stably meet Surface Water Class III standards. This is the second time in China, following the Yixing Urban Wastewater Resource Concept Plant, that this highest global honor has been awarded.
I. Award Prestige: 65 Countries, 320 Projects, Only 1 Global Grand Awards Selected
The International Water Association is one of the most authoritative academic and industry organizations in the global water environment field. Its "Project Innovation Awards" were established in 2008年, held every two years alongside the World Water Congress, and are known as the "Nobel Prize" of the water treatment field. The intensity of competition in this year's selection can be seen clearly from three numbers:
- 65 countries, 320 projects — the scale of projects competing on the same stage.
- 6 major categories, 1 Gold Award per category — this year there were six categories in total, including Water Technology and Infrastructure That Change the Market, Research and Development Breakthroughs, and Governance and Social Enterprise. Each category had only 1 Gold Award, with one Silver Award and one Bronze Award each as well.
- Only 1 Grand Innovation Award (GIA) — among the Gold Award projects in the six categories, expert judges then selected only 1 GIA to recognize outstanding projects of global significance.
In other words, what the Zhengzhou New District Wastewater Treatment Plant received was "first place among the Gold Awards." The evaluation dimensions covered multiple aspects including technological principle innovation, actual operational performance, and low-carbon emission reduction contributions, with particular emphasis on the technology's engineering implementation value and industry-driving effect, rather than concepts that remain at the laboratory stage.
II. What the Award-Winning Project Did Right: Turning a Wastewater Plant from "Energy-Consuming Pollution Treatment" into "Three Centers"
The Zhengzhou New District Wastewater Treatment Plant has a special identity — it is China's 7th million-ton-scale wastewater treatment plant, as well as China's first million-ton-scale activated coke process wastewater treatment plant, and it also has the country's largest sludge pyrolysis gasification project. The basic data are as follows:
- Wastewater treatment capacity — 100万 tons/day, with main effluent indicators stably meeting River Surface Water Class III standards.
- Sludge treatment capacity — 1300 tons/day, with thermal energy self-sufficiency in the treatment process, and emission indicators fully superior to national standards.
- Existing honors — it has successively received multiple recognitions including the National Quality Engineering Award and the first batch of national green and low-carbon benchmark wastewater treatment plants.
In response to the three common challenges generally faced by mega-cities — water resource scarcity, high sludge disposal pressure, and the separation of water and energy systems — Zhongyuan Environmental Protection, with this plant as the core carrier, innovatively applied leading core technologies at home and abroad such as ultra-low emission activated coke process wastewater treatment and sludge pyrolysis gasification, built a reclaimed water cascade utilization path of "first enhance energy, then reuse, and finally landscape," and deployed supporting green and low-carbon facilities such as distributed photovoltaics, biogas power generation, and energy storage, constructing a "water-energy coupling" circular system for mega-cities. Its ultimate goal is to drive wastewater treatment from "energy-consuming pollution treatment" toward the "three centers" of resources, energy, and carbon sinks.
III. How Sludge Is "Fully Utilized": Reduction Exceeding 90%, Fly Ash Reduced by More Than 95%
Sludge is the most difficult part to handle for the vast majority of wastewater treatment plants. Zhengzhou's solution is the independently developed sludge pyrolysis gasification process, and a thousand-ton-scale sludge pyrolysis gasification project has been built at the plant site. The key to this process route lies in solving the problem from the source:
- Source suppression of dioxin formation and solidification of heavy metals — Unlike end-of-pipe treatment approaches, this directly cuts off the pollutant generation pathway at the process stage.
- Sludge reduction exceeding 90% — A dual reduction in both volume and mass, directly alleviating the disposal pressure of "sludge siege".
- Fly ash generation reduced by more than 95% — A significant reduction in secondary solid waste, avoiding "treating sludge while generating new waste".
- Thermal energy self-sufficiency during treatment — No reliance on external energy supplementation, making operational economics viable.
- Full utilization of products — Sludge is decomposed into combustible gas and slag; the combustible gas is reused for system heating, and the slag is converted into building materials, industrial materials, and landscaping soil.
IV. How Reclaimed Water Becomes a "Second Energy Source": 375万 square meters of cooling and heating, annual reduction of 8.1万 tons
What deserves more industry attention is the cascade utilization design of reclaimed water. Zhongyuan Environmental Protection has established a "energy extraction first, utilization second, landscape last" pathway, in which "energy extraction" is placed before "utilization" — the physical basis behind this is that reclaimed water temperature remains stable year-round, making it inherently a stable low-grade energy carrier.
- Completed portion — Reclaimed water cooling and heating projects have been built in areas such as Longhu Financial Island and Zhengzhou East Railway Station, covering an area of 375万 square meters, saving 3.2万 tons of standard coal annually and reducing 8.1万 tons of carbon dioxide emissions.
- Under construction — Relying on the Zhengzhou New District Wastewater Treatment Plant, a "Reclaimed Water+" comprehensive smart energy utilization project with a transmission scale of 100万 tons/day is being built. Once completed, it can meet the heating demand of over 1100万 square meters and cooling demand of over 550万 square meters in the eastern area of Zhengzhou.
- Subsequent uses — It can also be used for industrial production, municipal miscellaneous use, and ecological water replenishment.
For citizens, the significance of this system is straightforward: warmer in winter, cooler in summer, while the city consumes less energy and the sky is bluer. For the project itself, cooling and heating services have found a value realization pathway for reclaimed water that is closer to cash flow than ecological water replenishment.
V. Synergy Between Smart Systems and Energy Structure
As an urban environmental hub and resilience platform, the Zhengzhou New District Wastewater Treatment Plant coordinates four major circular systems — sewage, sludge, kitchen waste, and agricultural waste — achieving efficient circular utilization of energy and resources. At the technical control level, the project is equipped with self-developed smart systems such as Add Biological Intelligent Control and AI Microscopic Inspection; at the energy structure level, it is supported by distributed photovoltaic, biogas power generation, and energy storage facilities, significantly increasing the proportion of "green energy" and driving the transformation of the wastewater treatment plant from a "major energy consumer" to an "energy factory".
VI. TIANYI TECH's Perspective
TIANYI TECH believes that what is truly worth replicating in this project is not any single technology, but the "water-energy coupling" system organization approach. Domestic wastewater plants habitually follow the path of "adding structures, adding chemicals, adding equipment" when upgrading to higher standards, driving costs ever higher; while the sequential arrangement of "energy extraction first, utilization second, landscape last" essentially prioritizes the energy value of reclaimed water over its resource value, using energy revenue to offset treatment costs. For industrial parks and municipal clients currently planning upgrades or new construction, this is a techno-economic pathway worth careful calculation — especially after financial support policies in the water conservation sector have been explicitly strengthened, the combination of energy self-sufficiency + reclaimed water revenue is shifting the financial model of such projects from "pure investment" to "recoverable".
About TIANYI TECH (TIANYI LIMITED)
TIANYI TECH specializes in wastewater treatment, reclaimed water reuse, and water resource recycling, providing one-stop services from process consulting, solution design, equipment integration, engineering implementation to smart operation and maintenance. The company is committed to promoting wastewater resource recovery through technological innovation, helping industrial enterprises and municipal clients achieve multiple goals of water conservation and carbon reduction, compliant discharge, and sustainable development.
Source: Zhengzhou Municipal People's Government State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission "International Recognition! Zhongyuan Environmental Protection Wins IWA 'Global Innovation Award'"; Tencent News/Daxiang News "Zhengzhou Wastewater Treatment Project Wins International Innovation Award" (2026-10-10)
