October 29, 2007 6:00 pm -- On October 22nd, 2007, Yixing PACT Environmental Technology Company Ltd. (PACT), a subsidiary of Eurotech, signed a contract with a client, an American aluminum company located in Qinhuangdao, to manage the design, manufacture, supply, and commissioning of a process industrial wastewater treatment plant. The contract is worth US$2.4 million and the deadline for the completion of the project is mid 2008.

"China faces serious water pollution, which may bottle-neck China's development. So we must take account of the environment pollution," Jerry Wong, CFO of Euro Tech Holdings Company Limited, Hong Kong, told Emerging China. "Yixing PACT will offer its design and manufacturing knowledge to supply wastewater treatment services to the aluminum company, and this will boost profits for Eurotech, and it will widen the scope of it operations in mainland China," he said.

"Concerning the aluminum mineral, it can cause serious environmental impact on plant life if it is not treated. Dissolved aluminum particles can interfere with a plant's ability to absorb nutrients from soil. "Chenya Hu, Manager of Shuzhou Clare environmental company told Emerging China. "So I imagine the treatment plant will utilize a bonding agent or electrostatic operation, causing the particles to mass together and settle out in ponds. It shouldn't be too difficult to treat, as the field of hydrology and treatment has advanced steadily recently."

Experts say it is necessary to study anaerobic and aerobic processes to understand why these processes are so expensive.

"I have worked in Industrial and human waste water treatment for many years," Tongjia Chen, Supervision Chief of Changnan Water Supply Co, Ltd. told Emerging China. He explains that training of operators, initial cost of equipment and maintenance, cost of equipment parts, power, settling pond construction, costs of piping, pumps, and chemicals, and the procurement of licenses, all contribute to the high costs involved in waste water treatment. "The cost to treat water is not cheap initially, but if one considers the environmental and human damage if not treated, it is very inexpensive and wise for the long run," he says.

The USA aluminum company in Qinhuangdao has fabricated aluminum and alumina as its main products. According to Chen, the 34 cubic meter an hour industrial process water plant and 45 cubic meters an hour wastewater treatment plant could be a path breaking move that leads to more such measures in the aluminum industry.