New wastewater EB treatment facility in China
A demonstration facility using an electron beam to treat medical wastewater started operation in May 2021 at the Xiyuan Hospital in the Hubei Province of China. The irradiation treatment aims at controlling microbiological contamination and dissociating biologically active compounds such as antibiotics. The pilot unit has a capacity of 400 m3 per day. This project is the result of a collaboration between the Tsinghua University Institute of Nuclear and New Energy Technology (INET), the China Atomic Energy Authority (CAEA) and the China General Nuclear Power Corporation. For this specific application, a new self-shield electron accelerator was developed. Controlling wastewater quality is especially important in this location near a major reservoir that is critical for the water supply in this region of China.
This is another milestone in the use of irradiation for environmental protection in China after the recent opening of the world’s largest EB processing facility last year at the Guanhua Knitting Factory, in southern China (30,000 m3 per day).