The Tia Sang Battery Joint Stock Company is one of the three members of the Vietnam National Chemical Group, which specialize in producing and trading in lead-acid batteries. The company currently produces 120 types of batteries for use to start up automobiles, motorcycles, information and communication facilities, and electrical stations. Its products are not only sold in Vietnam but also exported to many other countries such as Sweden, the UK, Czech Republic and the Republic of Korea.

Engineer Hoa Quang Nam, the chairman of the board and general director of the company, said, "As one of successful examples in Hai Phong in the field of cleaner production in industry, in the production process, the Tia Sang Battery Joint Stock Company pays primary attention to saving materials, electricity and water as well as waste water and waste treatment." Battery production requires very much clean water, minerals and overheated steam. Therefore, the company gives top priority to applying methods which allow it to use less power and electricity so as to reduce the production cost. Specifically, to reduce power consumption, the company has invested more than VND52 billion in equipment innovation. Specifically, it has replaced the old grinding equipment that was imported in 1999 with new equipment, which allows the company to save 420,840kWh of electricity and 7,560cu.m of water; the company is using Enerkeeper EKS 33-700KVA, a power saving device that allows it to save nine percent of power consumption; the 0.13-0.45-kWh fan system has been replaced with the 0.75-1.1-kWh fan system, and high-pressure lamps replaced with compact lamps.

Previously, to create distilled water for making up sulfuric acid (H2SO4) and steam, the company had to use about 700-750 tonnes of coal each year, and when coal was burnt, large amounts of waste gas emissions occurred, causing the greenhouse effect. To improve the situation, the company has replaced the two coal burning furnaces with an ion exchange system that runs with Reverse Osmosis (RO) technology. This solution allows the company to reduce coal consumption to 38 tonnes per year and water consumption by 400cu.m per day. Compared with 2001, coal consumption has been reduced by 85 percent, electricity by more than 40 percent, and water by 78 percent.

The company pays much attention to waste treatment. It uses Ca(OH)2 and CaCO3 to treat wastewater that contains H2SO4 and PbSO4. Wastewater that contains lead dust is treated for reuse purposes. Wastewater of other kinds is treated with biotechnology before being discharged.

Waste gas containing lead dust is also thoroughly treated before coming out to the environment. NaOH is used to treat waste gas that contains acid gas. Currently, the company ensures that 100 percent of wastewater and 95 percent of waste gas occurring during the production process is treated. Every day, about 110cu.m of wastewater is treated for reuse purposes. About 95 percent of dangerous and normal solid waste is collected and treated, and about 70 percent of solid waste is recycled for reuse purposes.

Along with technological and equipment innovation, the company pays much attention to improving workers' awareness in the field of environmental protection. Regulations on occupational safety, fire prevention and environmental protection have been disseminated to all workers. The company applies a policy that offers a bonus to workers who seriously abide by environmental protection regulations. In 2007, the company was presented a diploma of merit for its achievements in the field of environmental protection. In 2008, it received a Gold Cup for Environmental Protection from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. Notably, with a project aiming to apply cleaner production methods, the company received the Second Prize at the 2009 VIFOTEC (Vietnam Fund for Technical Creativeness) contest./.