1. What is the background for the development of the "Battery Industry Pollutant Emission Standards"?
China is the world's largest producer and exporter of batteries. Among them, the export volume of zinc manganese batteries exceeds 60%, the export volume of secondary batteries exceeds 65%, and the export volume of solar cells exceeds 90%. At the same time, with the rapid development of industries such as automobiles, electric vehicles, and communication, there is still significant room for development in the battery industry in China.
The battery industry is a key industry for heavy metal consumption and emissions. In recent years, heavy metal pollution accidents have occurred frequently. The country has issued documents such as the "12th Five Year Plan for Comprehensive Prevention and Control of Heavy Metal Pollution" to comprehensively strengthen environmental supervision of heavy metal industries such as lead battery production. At present, China's battery industry implements the "Comprehensive Wastewater Discharge Standards" (GB8978-1996) and "Comprehensive Air Pollutant Discharge Standards" (GB16297-1996), with low entry barriers and weak targeting. It is necessary to develop and implement stricter emission standards to increase the industry's environmental entry barriers. Therefore, the Ministry of Environmental Protection has decided to develop the "Battery Industry Pollutant Discharge Standards".
2. How does the "Battery Industry Pollutant Emission Standard" improve emission control requirements?
Firstly, the overall emission limits for pollutants have been tightened, including the emission limits for pollutants such as lead, mercury, cadmium, nickel, zinc, manganese, and silver from existing and newly built battery enterprises, as well as the unorganized emission limits at factory boundaries; The second is to enhance the operability of standards and clarify the pollution factors that different types of battery companies should focus on controlling; The third is to reflect the principle of total quantity control, and set benchmark water discharge per unit product for different types of batteries; Fourthly, the applicability of the standards has been further strengthened, and the maximum allowable emission rate regulations that are difficult to operate in practical work have been removed; Fifth, special emission limits for pollutants applicable to environmentally sensitive areas have been added.
3. What is the emission control level of the "Battery Industry Pollutant Emission Standards"?
The pollutant emission limits set in the "Battery Industry Pollutant Emission Standards" are stricter than the current national comprehensive emission standards, and also stricter than some current local emission standards, equivalent to the average control level of developed countries. In areas with severe heavy metal accumulation pollution, it is necessary to establish and implement stricter local emission standards, or set stricter control requirements through environmental impact assessment approval, pollution discharge permits, and other means. Therefore, the standard clearly stipulates that this standard is the basic requirement for pollutant emission control in the battery industry. Local provincial people's governments may formulate local pollutant discharge standards for pollutant projects that are not specified in this standard; For pollutant projects that have already been specified in this standard, local pollutant discharge standards that are stricter than this standard can be formulated. When the requirements of the environmental impact assessment document are stricter than this standard or local standards, the approved environmental impact assessment document shall be followed.
4. What are the expected costs and benefits of the "Battery Industry Pollutant Emission Standards"?
After implementing this standard, it is expected that the annual discharge of wastewater from the battery industry can be reduced by 700000 tons; COD emissions can be reduced by 448 tons; The emissions of lead and cadmium in water were reduced by 3.74 tons and 0.04 tons respectively, and the emissions of lead in the atmosphere were reduced by 15 tons. Correspondingly, the battery industry needs to increase investment in environmental protection, with an additional investment of approximately 1.6 billion yuan and an annual operating cost of 200 million yuan. From the perspective of controlling heavy metal pollution, promoting technological progress and structural optimization in the battery industry, the expected environmental benefits and investment intensity are appropriate, and the cost of meeting standards is affordable for the battery industry. Of course, some enterprises with outdated technology and severe pollution that rely on environmental dividends for survival will be eliminated.
