Song Con Sugar-Cane Joint Stock Company was established in 1971 and specialized in producing white cane sugar for domestic market. Since 2006, the company has improved the production capacity up to 1,600 tons cane per day and operated seasonally 6 months per year (form November to the next April).
Before applying cleaner production, the company had to face up the problem of wastewater and air emission pollution. Several criteria in wastewaster exceeded standard requirements, ie. SS exceeded 3.49 times, BOD exceeded 4.8 times, COD exceeded 3.65 times, coliform exceeded 1.21 times in comparison with Vietnamese Standards TCVN 5945:2005 (column B). Also, the content in SO2 in air emission exceeded 2.2 times, the suspended dust content exceeded 2.16 times in comparison with the standards, which polluted the surrounding environment.
With the support from the Department of Industry and Trade of Nghe An, in 2008, the company carried out the cleaner production assessment. For the first stage (from September 2008 to May 2009), the company established the cleaner production team led by Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Tra – the Director – and 5 other members, and conducted the cleaner production assessment on the whole prodution line. The assessment of the production lines, the verification of waste streams, the balance of materials and energy were worked out. Then all data collected were used for the analysis to find out the cleaner production options for each production processes.
After applying cleaner production and determining improving options, the company decided to carried out 22 improving options with the total investment capital of 5.2 billion dong. The economic benefits received from the annual reduction of production benchmark and total reduction approximately reached 3.1 billion dong (even not including the specific consumption of input sugar canes) after 2 years of applying cleaner production. Especially, the cleaner production option of strictly checking the quality of input sugar canes brought a large economic benefit to the company (46.8 billion dong), and reduce the volume of water consumption, chemical consumption and negative impacts on employees’ health and the surrounding environment, so, the number of occupational accidents and the percentage of sick-leave days of the employees were reduced considerably.
Benefits brought in by cleaner production are detailed as the following:
| Technical benefit | Economic benefit | Environmental benefit |
| Reducing10-14% of the specific consumption of water per year | Saving 2 billion dong | Reducing wastewater from 100.000-130.000m3/year |
| Reducing about 67% of H3PO4 per year | The quality of wastewater and air emission are comply with the Vietnamese Standards | |
| Reducing about 8% of the specific consumption of lime per year | ||
| Reducing 18% of the specific consumption of electricity | Reducing CO2 emission to the environment |
The typical cleaner production solutions of the company are detailed as the following:
| No. | CP solution | Investment | Performance | CP technique |
| 1 | Substituting the mechinary parts made of normal steel (which contaminates products) by the stainless ones | 2.7 billion | Improving the quality of products | EM |
| 2 | Regularly checking and maintaining the strainers | Low cost | Increasing the productivity of straining, well-maintaining machines | EM |
| 3 | Regularly maintain the rollers | Low cost | Increasing the productivity of pressing and the machine’s life | EM |
| 4 | Upgrade the filtering equipment. | VND 2.3 billions | Increasing the filtering efficiency | EM |
| 5 | Well-maintaining and immediately repairing all steam leaking points | VND 150 millions | No steam leaking (5 tons of steam/day), equivalent to saving VND 360 millons/year | GH |
| 6 | Substituting all faulty steam traps | GH | ||
| 7 | Installing a recovery system of cooling water | VND 1.4 billions | Circulating 60% of cooling water, equivalent to saving VND 3.11 billions of electricity for bumping water from the river to the company | OR |
| 7 | Making use of filtration mud and sludge as composite to provide for the raw materials supplying areas and sell to the market | VND 2.2 billions | Saving VND 2.1 billions (estimated) | OR |
| 8 | Installing a SO2 treatment system in the production workshop | VND 1.2 billions | Improving the conditions of working environment | EOP |
Remarks: EM: Equipment Modification, GH: Good Housekeeping, OR: Onsite Recovery, EOP: End-of-pipeBeing aware of the benefits from the cleaner production, the company decided to maintain the operation of the cleaner production team, and put the cleaner production activities into the general management system of the company. To do this, a simple environment management system was established. Also, the company made an environmental policy which stipulates the strict implementation of the Law of Environmental Protection and regulations to ensure the sustainable development and minimize the causes of waste. Besides, the company integrated the production management system and the environmental management system so that the consumption of materials and energy were controlled by monitoring the criteria in waste streams. A system of sampling and legal procedure was also built to be applied in collecting, checking, and analyzing environmental data.
An environmental monitoring plan has been conducted. It aims to monitor the considerable improvements brought in by the cleaner production options, and to adjust them in case some environmental benefits are reduced. The environmental monitoring system comprises air monitoring and wastewater monitoring.
Cleaner Production not only brings in benefits from energy saving, emission reduction, water consumption reduction, but also helps the company to develop production, improve product quality, and affirm the company reputation. The cleaner production options which have been implemented at the company are typical examples for sugar production companies in Vietnam./.