The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology Is Accelerating the Development of the Environmental Protection Equipment Manufacturing Industry

Recently, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) publicly solicited opinions on the "Guiding Opinions on Accelerating the Development of the Environmental Protection Equipment Manufacturing Industry (Draft for Solicitation of Opinions)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Guiding Opinions").

The "Guiding Opinions" state that one of the main objectives is to achieve continuous optimization of the industrial structure by 2020, cultivate ten leading enterprises with a scale of 10 billion yuan, create one hundred standardized enterprises with exemplary and leading roles, build one thousand specialized, refined, and innovative SMEs, and form several industrial clusters with strong driving effects and distinctive characteristics. The output value of the environmental protection equipment manufacturing industry will reach 1 trillion yuan.

The "Guiding Opinions" mention that since the "12th Five-Year Plan," the scale of the environmental protection equipment manufacturing industry has expanded rapidly. Major equipment has basically achieved domestic production, and some equipment has reached the international leading level. The pace of advanced equipment and leading enterprises going global has accelerated, with products covering nearly one hundred countries and regions. The overall level of the industry has achieved leapfrog development, with an output value of 620 billion yuan in 2016, doubling that of 2011.

"The environmental protection equipment manufacturing industry is an important component of strategic emerging industries, an important technological foundation for environmental protection, and an important guarantee for achieving green development," the "Guiding Opinions" state.

The following is the full text of the "Guiding Opinions on Accelerating the Development of the Environmental Protection Equipment Manufacturing Industry (Draft for Solicitation of Comments)":

To implement the deployment and requirements of "Made in China 2025" and the "13th Five-Year Plan for the Development of National Strategic Emerging Industries," comprehensively promote green manufacturing, improve the level of the environmental protection equipment manufacturing industry, and promote the sustainable and healthy development of the environmental protection industry, the following opinions are hereby proposed:

I. Fully Recognize the Importance of Developing the Environmental Protection Equipment Manufacturing Industry

The environmental protection equipment manufacturing industry is an important component of strategic emerging industries, a crucial technological foundation for environmental protection, and a vital guarantee for achieving green development. Since the 12th Five-Year Plan, the scale of the environmental protection equipment manufacturing industry has expanded rapidly, its development model has continuously innovated, its service areas have broadened, and its technological level has significantly improved. Major equipment has basically achieved domestic production, and some equipment has reached international leading levels. Advanced equipment and leading enterprises have accelerated their pace of going global, with products covering nearly 100 countries and regions. The overall level of the industry has achieved leapfrog development, with an output value of 620 billion yuan in 2016, doubling that of 2011.

During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, with improving environmental quality as the core, the implementation of the strictest environmental protection system has brought huge market space for the development of the environmental protection equipment manufacturing industry. Developing and expanding the green manufacturing industry and cultivating new economic growth points have placed new and higher demands on the environmental protection equipment manufacturing industry. However, the environmental protection equipment manufacturing industry currently faces prominent problems such as weak innovation capabilities, severe low-end homogeneous competition, and difficulties in the application and promotion of advanced technologies and equipment, falling far short of current green development requirements. Accelerating the sustained and healthy development of the environmental protection equipment manufacturing industry is of great significance for comprehensively deepening supply-side structural reform, achieving effective supply of advanced environmental protection equipment, and promoting green development.

II. Overall Approach and Objectives

(I) Overall Approach

Fully implement the spirit of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Plenary Sessions of the 18th CPC Central Committee, firmly establish the development concepts of innovation, coordination, green development, openness, and sharing, deeply promote supply-side structural reform, take comprehensively improving the effective supply of advanced environmental protection equipment as the main line, strengthen innovation-driven development, optimize product structure, improve the standard system, promote integrated development, implement and improve relevant policies supporting industry development, stimulate the endogenous driving force of industry development and the vitality of market entities, guide the entire industry to transform its development mode, improve the industry's core competitiveness, and provide strong support for green development.

(II) Main Objectives

By 2020, the industry's innovation capabilities will be significantly enhanced, key core technologies will achieve new breakthroughs, and an innovation-driven industry development system will be basically established. The effective supply capacity of advanced environmental protection technologies and equipment will be significantly improved, and market share will increase substantially. Major technologies and equipment will basically reach international advanced levels, and international competitiveness will be significantly enhanced. The industrial structure will be continuously optimized, cultivating ten leading enterprises with a scale of 10 billion yuan, creating one hundred standardized enterprises with demonstrative and leading roles, building one thousand specialized, refined, and innovative SMEs, and forming several industrial clusters with strong driving effects and distinctive characteristics. The output value of the environmental protection equipment manufacturing industry will reach 1 trillion yuan.

III. Key Tasks

(I) Strengthening Collaborative Innovation in Technological R&D. Enterprises are encouraged to focus on addressing pressing environmental pollution issues, aiming to break through key common technologies, relying on key common technologies in the industry, and using the industrial chain as a link to cultivate and create technology innovation centers and industrial technology innovation alliances. Enterprises will be guided to collaborate on innovation along the industrial chain, promoting the formation of a collaborative innovation community, achieving precise R&D, improving product R&D efficiency, and overcoming a number of key core technologies, equipment, materials, and reagents for pollution control. Strengthen the construction of application promotion platforms, improve industrialization mechanisms, encourage the transformation of innovative achievements, promote precise matching of equipment and governance projects, and accelerate their application in the green transformation of traditional manufacturing industries such as steel, non-ferrous metals, chemicals, and building materials.

(II) Promote the intelligent and green transformation and development of production. Explore and promote the modular design and standardized manufacturing of non-standard products, promote the application of the Internet of Things, robots, automated equipment, and information management software in the production process, improve the intelligent manufacturing level and information management level of the environmental protection equipment manufacturing industry, and achieve lean management of the production process. Increase the application of green design, green processes, and green supply chains in the field of environmental protection equipment manufacturing, carry out benchmarking and compliance of energy efficiency, water efficiency, and pollutant emissions in the production process, create green demonstration factories, and improve the overall level of green manufacturing in the industry.

(III) Promote the diversified and branded development of products. Optimize the product structure of environmental protection equipment, expand product sub-sectors, and gradually develop complete sets and series of products with independent intellectual property rights for different industries. Focusing on environmental governance costs and operating efficiency, prioritize the development of a number of intelligent, energy-saving, advanced, and efficient environmental protection equipment, and create a number of customized products based on user governance needs and operating environments. Strengthen the brand building of environmental protection equipment products, establish a brand cultivation and management system, improve product quality, enhance the market recognition of independent brands, cultivate a number of internationally renowned independent brands, and improve brand added value and international competitiveness.

(IV) Guide the differentiated, clustered, and integrated development of the industry. Encourage leading environmental protection equipment enterprises to develop into comprehensive service providers integrating system design, equipment manufacturing, engineering construction, commissioning and maintenance, and operation management; encourage small and medium-sized enterprises to develop towards specialization, in-depth R&D, distinctive services, and new business models, forming a number of clusters led by leading enterprises, supported by small and medium-sized enterprises, and with coordinated development of the industrial chain. Guide the integrated development of environmental protection equipment manufacturing with the Internet, service industry, and financial industry, actively explore new models and new business forms, and accelerate the improvement of the service capabilities and investment and financing capabilities of manufacturing enterprises. Promote military-civilian integration and facilitate the application and promotion of dual-use equipment in the field of environmental pollution control. Encourage traditional manufacturing enterprises to leverage their technological advantages to expand into the environmental protection equipment manufacturing industry, promoting the extension of the industrial chain in depth and breadth.

(V) Encourage enterprises to develop internationally and openly. Encourage environmental protection equipment enterprises to strengthen cooperation, adopt complementary advantages and strong alliances, actively expand overseas markets, and participate in overseas environmental protection engineering construction and operation through technology introduction, collaborative research and development, and direct investment. Guide the environmental protection equipment manufacturing industry to shift from primarily exporting single machines to providing complete sets of equipment and services as a form of international equipment general contracting and engineering general contracting. Encourage environmental protection equipment enterprises to collaborate with infrastructure construction enterprises and actively participate in environmental infrastructure construction projects within the "Belt and Road" initiative and international production capacity cooperation. Fully utilize bilateral and multilateral cooperation mechanisms and exchange platforms to strengthen information, technology, and project exchange and cooperation with foreign enterprises, promote international mutual recognition of environmental protection technology and equipment patents and standards, and achieve international alignment.

IV. Key Areas

(I) Air Pollution Control Equipment. Focus on the research and development of trend-setting and forward-looking technologies and equipment such as the combined removal of PM2.5 and ozone precursors, and the treatment of sulfur trioxide (SO3). Develop key components such as pulse high-voltage power supplies for dust removal, and promote purification and treatment technologies and equipment for waste incineration flue gas, mobile source exhaust gas, and volatile organic compound (VOCs) waste gas. Promote the application and demonstration of technologies and equipment for ultra-low emissions from coal-fired power plants, multi-pollutant synergistic control in non-power industries such as steel, coking, non-ferrous metals, building materials, and chemicals, and volatile organic compound (VOC) control in key areas.

(II) Water Pollution Control Equipment. Focus on tackling key technologies and equipment such as anaerobic ammonia oxidation, electrolytic catalytic oxidation, and supercritical oxidation; develop advanced membrane treatment technologies and components with bio-enhanced and low-energy-consumption, high-efficiency capabilities; and conduct basic research on technologies and equipment for treating trace amounts of toxic pollutants in drinking water. Prioritize the promotion of low-cost, high-standard, low-energy-consumption, and high-efficiency wastewater treatment equipment, as well as deep nitrogen and phosphorus removal and safe and efficient disinfection technologies and equipment. Promote the application and demonstration of high-concentration, recalcitrant wastewater in areas such as black and odorous water body remediation, rural wastewater treatment, energy-saving upgrading of wastewater treatment plants in urban and industrial parks, and treatment of high-concentration, recalcitrant wastewater in industries such as industrial and livestock farming, and landfill leachate treatment.

(III) Solid Waste Treatment and Disposal Equipment. The focus of research and development will be on technologies and equipment for wet sorting of construction waste, remediation of contaminated sediment, efficient anaerobic digestion of waste, efficient deacidification of waste incineration flue gas, efficient adsorption of dioxins and heavy metals from incineration flue gas, and resource utilization of fly ash from waste incineration. The promotion of advanced and efficient waste incineration technologies and equipment, safe disposal technologies and equipment for incineration slag and fly ash, low-energy sludge dewatering and deep drying technologies and equipment, leachate concentrate treatment, biogas-to-natural gas conversion, and deactivated catalyst regeneration technologies and equipment will be prioritized. Application demonstrations will be conducted in key areas such as the stability of processes and equipment in the incineration of municipal solid waste and hazardous waste, prevention of secondary pollution, and sludge treatment and disposal in urban wastewater treatment plants and industrial wastewater treatment facilities.

(IV) Soil Pollution Remediation Equipment. The focus of research and development will be on technologies and equipment for soil bioremediation, enhanced gas phase extraction (SVE), and electrostatic separation of heavy metals. The promotion of technologies and equipment for thermal desorption, chemical leaching, and oxidation-reduction will be prioritized. In response to the impacts of contaminated sites in petroleum, chemical, metallurgical, and mining industries on the living environment and ecological safety, and the need for remediation of farmland soil pollution, industrial land pollution, and mining area soil pollution, application demonstrations will be conducted.

(V) Environmental Pollution Emergency Response Equipment. The focus will be on developing emergency technologies and equipment for the prevention and emergency management of hazardous chemical accidents and leaks of hazardous chemicals (cyanide) during shipping. The promotion of mobile emergency treatment technologies and equipment for wastewater, waste gas, and solid waste, as well as emergency response technologies and equipment for oil spills on water, will be prioritized. Application demonstrations of technologies and equipment for emergency response to hazardous chemical accidents and cyanobacterial blooms will be conducted.

(VI) Environmental Monitoring Instruments. The focus will be on developing technologies and equipment for pollution source water quality cluster analysis, water toxicity monitoring, continuous multi-parameter monitoring and early warning of air pollution in petrochemical and chemical industrial parks, biological monitoring and simultaneous monitoring of multiple targets, and emergency environmental monitoring. The focus is on promoting rapid on-site monitoring of pollutants, continuous monitoring of multiple parameters and pollutants such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs), ammonia, heavy metals, and sulfur trioxide (SO3), regional and grid-based environmental monitoring technologies and equipment such as vehicle-mounted, airborne, and spaceborne systems, and rapid detection and diagnosis technologies and equipment for heavy metals and persistent organic pollutants in farmland soil.

(VII) Specialized Materials and Agents for Environmental Pollution Prevention and Control. The focus is on developing new high-efficiency water treatment materials and agents, ultra-clean filtration, high-efficiency gas-solid separation materials, solidification and removal of heavy metals and persistent organic pollutants in soil, microbial remediation, ecological restoration, and environmental protection nanomaterials and agents. The focus is also on promoting high-efficiency, low-resistivity, long-life dust removal filter media, corrosion-resistant linings for desulfurization, soil heavy metal passivation materials and agents, catalysts for VOCs treatment, garbage deodorizers, in-situ passivation, fixation, and biological barrier materials and agents, etc. Noise and Vibration Control Equipment. The focus is on promoting key technologies and equipment such as vibration isolation technology and equipment for rail transit, sound barrier technology and equipment for high-speed railways, array-type silencers, and low-frequency noise source diagnosis and treatment equipment.

V. Safeguard Measures

(I) Strengthen Industry Standardization and Guidance. Formulate standardization conditions for each sub-sector of the environmental protection equipment manufacturing industry, publish a list of enterprises meeting the standardization conditions, and guide production factors to concentrate on leading enterprises. Regularly revise and publish the "National Catalogue of Major Environmental Protection Technologies and Equipment Encouraged for Development," accelerating the research, development, and application of advanced technologies and equipment. Further improve the industry standard system, guiding the standardization, serialization, generalization, and complete-set development of products. Construct an industry economic operation monitoring system to regulate the orderly development of the environmental protection equipment manufacturing industry.

(II) Increase Financial and Tax Support. Fully utilize existing funding channels, leverage preferential income tax policies for energy-saving, water-saving, and environmental protection equipment, and the insurance compensation mechanism for the first (set) of major technical equipment to support the industrialization demonstration and application of advanced environmental protection technologies and equipment. Actively promote financial products such as green credit, green bonds, financial leasing, intellectual property pledge loans, and credit insurance policy pledge loans to increase support for the environmental protection equipment manufacturing industry. Encourage social capital to establish industry funds based on market principles to invest in the environmental protection equipment manufacturing industry.

(III) Fully Leverage the Supporting Role of Intermediary Organizations. Leveraging the advantages of relevant industry associations, research institutes, and consulting agencies—their familiarity with the industry and close ties to enterprises—we will actively carry out work such as policy promotion, technical exchange, standard setting, operational monitoring, and industry self-regulation, serving as a bridge and link between the government, industry, and enterprises to promote the industry's sustainable and healthy development.

(IV) Strengthening Talent Development. Focusing on the development needs of the environmental protection equipment manufacturing industry, we will establish and improve a diversified talent training system, strengthen the development of professional and technical personnel with innovative spirit and highly skilled personnel with craftsmanship, and enhance the reserve and training of personnel for "going global," providing multi-level innovative talent support for the industry's development.