The proposed project is designed to improve the existing wastewater treatment facility by installing a high rate anaerobic wastewater treatment and biogas recovery system in the citric acid manufacturing plant of Shandong Citric Acid and Biochemistry Co., Ltd (SCAB, the project owner). The project mainly comprises 2 Internal Circulation (IC) anaerobic reactors, 11 turbine-generator units with 0.5 MW capacity of each and horizontal type heat exchangers, and a wet type desulfuration system. The biogas extracted from the improved facility will be utilized for heat and electricity generation for the citric acid production of SCAB. It’s located on Liujiarao Town, Anqiu County, Weifang City, Shandong Province, P.R.China.

SCAB is the largest citric acid manufacturer in China, which is currently capable of producing 150,000 tons of citric acid and associated products from maize fermentative solution annually. The large-scale production results in 6,300m³/day of wastewater with high organic content of minimum Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) of 25kg/m³. The wastewater is currently treated by low-efficiency anaerobic treatment system with low COD remove rate prior to releasing into its adjacent river - Wen River. In the project activity, the IC anaerobic reactors will remove at least 92% of the COD before releasing to the existing lagoons. During this treatment, great amount of biogas is generated and collected for electricity generation.

The proposed project has total installed capacity of 5.5 MW, which will generate 30.7395GWh of annual electricity and supply 29.5845GWh.of captive electricity for the citric acid production. The project will reduce the CH₄ emissions that would have otherwise been emitted from the existing open lagoons. The electricity generated by the project will also substitute equivalent amount of carbon intensive electricity imported from North China Power Grid (NCPG) which is dominated by coal-fired power plants. Therefore, the project will lead to GHG emission reductions and make strong contribution to local environment protection and sustainable development.