There have been recent developments with regard to the unusual quality of water and the closure of the lithium salt industry to accompany inspections。
On the evening of 6 december, the people's government of yichun issued an updated circular on the incident. According to the circular, the lead regenerator jiangxi jiang materials ltd. Is the main source of pollution, while jiangxi chi chiung materials ltd. And another local lithium salt company, jiangxi yongshing steel new energy technology, are under investigation for the release of americium-containing contaminants in a way that avoids regulation。
On 24 november, the eco-environmental monitoring unit of the city of yichun found unusual levels of thallium in the monitoring analysis of the whole-scale indicator of drinking water sources in the jin river dry stream, which involved the disposal of water supplies, trace sources, etc. On an ongoing basis, the data indicate that the water quality of the water source has been stabilized. At present, on-site disposal has been completed。
The main source of water for the residents of the seven counties of yuenzhou, manjie, shanghai, yifung, gao an, new city and fong city is yuanzhou, yi chun city。
Journalists have learned that the contamination of the river caused considerable local vibrations. At the beginning of december, in a message circulated among the population of the areas of gao an and others, it was stated that “recently water has been drinking without running water, and the quality of a water-bearing floor has been contaminated, and groundwater is flowing to prevent heavy metals in the body”
In its announcement, the people's government of the city of yichun indicated that, following the occurrence of an abnormal concentration of thorium, the relevant government departments had suspended water supply to the people at the relevant water plant along the river's main stream, increased the supply of alternative water supplies to other water plants and implemented emergency de-thorium measures at the relevant water plant. From 1300 hours on 27 november, the affected water plants continued to achieve steady compliance。
Following an inspection of the entire river basin, the relevant departments identified the main sources of pollution from the iifeng county industrial park, and put in place measures to stop the drainage of the park's various sewage-related enterprises and central sewage treatment plants. Preliminaryly, it was identified that the main source of contamination in the incident was jiangxi chiang materials ltd。
“it was also found during the screening that jiangxi jiajian materials ltd. And jiangxi yongshingt steel new energy technology inc. Were suspected of releasing pollutants in a manner that avoided regulation. At present, the public security authorities have jointly initiated an investigation into the two enterprises. This post is part of our special coverage syria protests 2011。
It is understood that the thallium, chemical symbol tl, with an atomic serial number of 81, is the 6th cycle iiia element in the cyclical table of elements, which is low in the natural environment and is a concomitant element. Tritium is slowly dissolved in hydrochloric acids and rare sulphuric acids, and rapidly in nitrates. The salt is typically a colourless, odourless crystal, which is dissolved in water to form an argonide。
Although not included in our hazardous waste identification standard - leaching toxicity identification (gb 5085. 3-2007) for the time being, it is included in appendix a to the hazardous waste identification standard - toxic substances identification (gb 5085. 6-2007) due to its acute toxicity and radioactivity, with certain hazard characteristics。
In addition, jiangxi jiang materials ltd., referred to in the above-mentioned bulletin, is responsible for the production and sale of regenerative lead, lead alloys, electrolyte lead, plastics, anode mud. In early april 2020, jiangxi jiaxian materials ltd. Also issued its first environmental information bulletin on its 210,000 tonnes/year of regenerative lead and associated production line technical rehabilitation projects。
The announcement mentions that the 210,000 tons/year of recycled lead and the technical rehabilitation of the associated production line are located at the yifung industrial park, iifeng county, iichuan city, jiangxi province, which is the main source of pollution from the incident。
The project has invested a total of $30 million to recover lead using waste cell panels, lead sludge, lead sludge from waste lead-acid and lead-acid cell production enterprises, using the process “break selection, waste acid purification, plastic color selection + oxygen-rich blower smelting, flue acid + crude lead fire refining + crude lead electroly decomposition + lead alloy refining”。
Why do regenerative lead producers produce thallium-containing pollutants? The shanghai color network regenerative lead analyst has heard the sound of the summer news that the most fundamental source of contaminants is the presence of thorium in lead concentrates, which is also present in secondary waste after the production of lead concentrates, used as a raw material in regenerative lead plants, and the corresponding presence of thorium in waste gases and wastewater。
In this case, the youngcin steel new energy technology company (hereinafter referred to as the youngcheng new energy source) is the lithium carbonate production company. On 29 november, its parent company, yong xing special materials technology, inc., issued a communiqué known as the temporary cut-off of yong xing's new energy in collaboration with the local environmental survey. It is known that yong xing's new energy source was established on 30 august 2017, that in 2021 the company sold 11235. 20 tons of lithium carbonate and 1377 tons in january-september 2022。
In addition to yong xing's new energy sources, the lithium salt industry, which had previously ceased production in ichun, included tianjin lithium industries ltd. And accompanied lithium industries ltd., controlled by zhejiang conlonda special protection technology co. Ltd., and lithium capricorn heavy mines machinery ltd. Ltd., controlled by grain hill. The reason for the shutdown was also considered to be in cooperation with the water pollution survey。
Why does the local lithium salt plant in yichun produce thallium during production? This is due to the presence of trace amounts of thorium in lithium longstone mines, often associated with lithium masons, which are further enriched and separated during lithium masonry. The local lithium mine resources in yichun are dominated by lithium masons。
In particular, during the high-temperature burning of lithium cloud masts via sulphate, the aluminum enters mainly the flue gas, through a negative pressure collection mechanism into a bag of dust removal devices, some of which are intercepted on dust by a bag dedustor and reused back to the furnace; the other part of aluminum is attached to the flue gas through a bag dedustor and is sprayed with waste water to the back of the sewage treatment station。
The risk of thorium contamination is already high
On 8 december, an undisclosed report from the department of eco-environment in jiangxi province, obtained by journalists, showed that, in practice, the risk of thorium contamination in the production of the lithium salt company at iichuan was already at risk in the first half of the year。
In april-may of this year, the second ecological environmental protection inspectorate of jiangxi province conducted a survey on the environmental protection of the lithium carbonate industry in the city of yichun, which examined four lithium-containing mines, four lithium masons and seven lithium carbonate-producing enterprises, including the yong xin xin energy industry and the tianjin lithium industry。
The inspection team found that several lithium carbonate enterprises had suffered from poor control of thallium metal contamination during the manufacture of lithium carbonate. In the case of young-heung new energy, for example, the unauthorized re-use of thallium-containing sludge, the flow of thallium material is unclear and poses greater environmental risks. In order to avoid the high cost of solid waste disposal, companies returned slurry-containing sludge, calcium fluoride, potassium sulphate sodium salt, impregnated slags to mix, supported by a non-annexed assessment process, with a maximum of 269 mg/kg of sodium fluoride and potassium sulphate salt. Changes in the flow of aluminum materials may lead to a significant increase in the content of excretion gases, wastewater, products and solid wastes and an uncontrolled environmental risk。
Of the other lithium carbonate manufacturing enterprises, five out of seven (jangxi fei-yu new energy technology ltd., etc.) are above the inorganic chemical industry pollutant emission standard (gb31573-2015) (hereinafter referred to as “standard”). Of these, thorium is 15. 8 times higher than the emission standard in the external drainage of lithium industry ltd。
However, since its launch in december 2021, jiangxitai's new energy limited liability company has not built circulatory water removal facilities and initial rainwater harvesting and treatment systems, and rainwater drainage is irregular, with the largest amount of thallium in rainwater ditches exceeding 4. 1 times the standard, and the environmental risks are high。
The eichung lithium new energy limited (step i) drain canals containing thallium is 1. 2 times higher than the standard. Jiangxi fei-yu new energy technology ltd. Has not produced thallium-containing sludge since october 2021, and its actual destination is unknown; sewage is up to 3. 7 times greater than the standard, and the normal operation of the thallium wastewater treatment unit is questionable。
In its report issued in the first half of this year, the group also noted that the municipality of yichun should follow the ministry of ecology's opinion on further strengthening the control of heavy metal pollution (2022) 17) provides guidance for the establishment of a desk account on the risks of thorium pollution in the lithium carbonate manufacturing industry and for the development of problem remediation programmes。
Specifically, they include the upgrading of waste-water management facilities in the lithium carbonate manufacturing industry, the strict enforcement of standards requirements for the discharge of wastewater from workshops or production facilities; the construction of a chain-wide closed-ring management system for thallium-related enterprises, which urges enterprises to conduct testing analyses of the thallium content in ore raw materials, primary by-products and production waste so that the thallium element can be accounted for and traceable; and the incorporation of thallium sludge into hazardous waste management and timely handover to competent units。
The reasons for the non-disclosure of the report are not known. According to the announcement of the municipality of yichun, this case of water pollution in jinjiang is still being investigated by the public security authorities。
