1 research outputs found
Construction and Operation Costs of Wastewater Treatment and Implications for the Paper Industry in China
This
paper aims to develop a construction and operation cost model of wastewater
treatment for the paper industry in China and explores the main factors
that determine these costs. Previous models mainly involved factors
relating to the treatment scale and efficiency of treatment facilities
for deriving the cost function. We considered the factors more comprehensively
by adding a regional variable to represent the economic development
level, a corporate ownership factor to represent the plant characteristics,
a subsector variable to capture pollutant characteristics, and a detailed-classification
technology variable. We applied a unique data set from a national
pollution source census for the model simulation. The major findings
include the following: (1) Wastewater treatment costs in the paper
industry are determined by scale, technology, degree of treatment,
ownership, and regional factors; (2) Wastewater treatment costs show
a large decreasing scale effect; (3) The current level of pollutant
discharge fees is far lower than the marginal treatment costs for
meeting the wastewater discharge standard. Key implications are as
follows: (1) Cost characteristics and impact factors should be fully
recognized when planning or making policies relating to wastewater
treatment projects or technology development; (2) There is potential
to reduce treatment costs by centralizing wastewater treatment via
industrial parks; (3) Wastewater discharge fee rates should be increased;
(4) Energy efficient technology should become the future focus of
wastewater treatment