Assessment of cleaner production options for alcohol industry of China: a study in the Shouguang Alcohol Factory

The alcohol industry in China makes an important contribution to the national economy. However, the associated pollution problems cause gradual deterioration of the ambient environment and adverse impacts on the local community. Cleaner production (CP) technology, as an effective way to reduce waste emission and save resources, has been widely employed in the alcohol industry across the developed countries. In China, although such technologies have been applied in a number of factories, an integrated assessment and implementation procedure is lacking for proceeding with practical CP technologies for alcohol factories in China. To solve such problems, a series of cleaner production options are proposed and assessed in this study. Five groups of CP options were screened, on factory survey, expert questionnaires, and integrated assessment. With the consideration of environmental impacts and economic efficiency, four CP options combined with various advanced CP technologies, such as high-concentration wort fermenting, CO₂ reuse, different pressure distilling, methane and fertilizer production, were proposed. To verify the proposed options, a case study was carried out in the Shouguang Alcohol Factory (SAF), East China. The characteristics of resources consumption and waste emission during the production process were identified. A comprehensive evaluation of the proposed options was conducted from different aspects. An integrated cleaner production system based on the proposed options was formed and then implemented in the factory. Through the four years of practice, the productivity/quality of alcohol product were improved, but and the reduction of waste and pollution were achieved as well as a marked increase in water/energy savings. This study provides theoretical and practical support for extensive application of cleaner production technologies and sustainable development in the alcohol industry of China.