Wanhua Chemical (Wanhua), along with other representatives from China and France, signed a three-party cooperative agreement recently to collaborate on Wanhua Chemical's Penglai Industrial Park seawater desalination project.

The signing ceremony was held in Beijing at the fifth meeting of the Council of China-France Entrepreneurs, an official event for French President Emmanuel Macron's visit to China.

Committed to forging a chemical industrial base that integrates fine chemicals, petrochemicals, and high-end new energy materials, Wanhua's Penglai Industrial Park will be the Company's seventh industrial park globally. The Penglai seawater desalination project, which has three parties involved namely, China Railway Group Limited's (CREC) Shanghai Civil Engineering, Wanhua Chemical, and France's Suez SA (formerly Suez Environnement) is a key element and has a planned land area of 56,000 square meters and a construction area of 23,000 square meters. It contains six process areas, namely, water intake, coagulation and sedimentation, filtration, sludge treatment, water product, and power distribution. Once completed, the first phase will be capable of producing 100,000 tons of desalinated water daily and will have an overall planned seawater desalination capacity of 300,000 tons per day upon completion of all phases.

Liao Zengtai, Chairman of Wanhua Chemical, said at the signing ceremony, "I am delighted to see our history of cooperation with the outstanding Suez SA bloom into such a tremendous success. The achievements of multiple Wanhua projects are largely thanks to Suez SA's impeccable professional technical capabilities and excellent customer service. I am confident this can become yet another landmark project on the road to a greener planet and will be a platform for the exchange of talent, technology, and resources which will be further enhanced in a bid to create high-quality brands and boutique projects under China's Belt and Road Initiative."

Besides, Wanhua Chemical has made a handful of attempts in the comprehensive management of water resources. The company uses advanced processes like reverse osmosis and ultrafiltration to concentrate reclaimed water, with 73% of it reused in parks. Its wastewater treatment facility at Yantai Industrial Park has a processing capacity of almost 4,000 cubic meters per hour and a recovery rate of 75%. The Company, which also uses the MDI waste brine circulation technology, was nominated for a Chemical Week 2022 award for its effective waste utilization, discharge-free operation, and consistent treatment outcomes. It has recycled about 3 million tons of waste brine annually, reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 140,000 tons per year.