Promising CP Demonstration Projects in Viet Nam

PROMISING CP DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS IN VIET NAM

Mr. Bent Hummelmose, M.Sc.

Viet Nam Cleaner Production Centre

5th floor, Hi-Tech Building

Hanoi University of Technology, DHBK

Dai Co Viet Road

Hanoi, Vietnam

vncpc@un.org.vn,

http://www.un.org.vn/vncpc

ABSTRACT:

During year 1999 and 2000 the Viet Nam Cleaner Production Centre has conducted a demonstration programme to show how cleaner production can be implemented in industries in Viet Nam. Through this demonstration project 13 companies have carried out cleaner production assessments and have implemented cleaner production options benefiting the economies of the industries and the environment. The demonstration programme has covered the sectors of pulp & paper, textile, food & beverage, and metal processing/finishing. Out of the 13 companies, 9 were state owned, 3 were private and 1 was an equitized company.

This paper summarises the result of the demonstration project, and presents some of the specific cleaner production options that have been implemented. With this paper Viet Nam Cleaner Production Centre would also like to share some of the lessons we have learned, and present the challenge we have to overcome to widely disseminate cleaner production in Vietnamese industry.

KEYWORDS: Cleaner Production, industry: textile, pulp and paper, food processing, beverage, metal finishing, Viet Nam

PROMISING CP DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS IN VIET NAM

The Viet Nam Cleaner Production Centre (VNCPC) was established in 1998 with the aim to act as a national focal point for Cleaner Production, and to play a catalytic and coordinating role in promoting Cleaner Production in Viet Nam.

During 1999 and 2000 the Viet Nam Cleaner Production Centre conducted a Cleaner Production demonstration programme with 13 participating companies. The objectives of the in-plant demonstration programme were to show how the concept of cleaner production works in Viet Nam, to get practical results, and to provide opportunities for hands-on training for trainees in a Cleaner Production training course.

SELECTION OF THE COMPANIES

To recruit companies for the in-plant demonstration programme, the Viet Nam Cleaner Production Centre (VNCPC) made a screening of the industrial landscape of Viet Nam to identify those sectors that are most polluting and have the biggest potential for Cleaner Production. Of the sectors listed in Table 1, the VNCPC decided to focus on the following sectors: pulp and paper; food and beverages; textile; and metal finishing. Apart from these four sectors, the screening indicated that mining and chemical industry would be sectors with a high potential for Cleaner Production, however, they were considered too complicated for the first VNCPC demonstration programme.

VNCPC had meetings with 38 companies from the four sectors and throughout the country to promote our programme and to assess the following aspects:

§ Management commitment and willingness to co-operate;

§ Financial health (difficult to assess);

§ High pollution load and pressure from public and regulatory authorities;

§ Potential for cleaner production; and

§ In-house availability of technical staff.

Following the meetings, the Centre received 22 applications of which 15 companies were selected to join the demonstration programme. Figure 1 shows the distribution of the companies according to sector, and Figure 2 shows the distribution according to ownership. Six of the companies are located in the north of Viet Nam, two in central Viet Nam, and seven in and near Ho Chi Minh City in the south.

METHODOLOGY

The cornerstone of the in-plant demonstration programme has been the Cleaner Production Assessment methodology refined by the National Cleaner Production Centre of India [1]. This methodology consists of the following six basic steps:

1. Getting started

2. Analysing Process Steps

3. Generating Cleaner Production Opportunities

4. Feasibility Analysis

5. Implementing and Monitoring Cleaner Production Solutions

6. Sustaining Cleaner Production

The Cleaner Production Assessment were closely related to the VNCPC Train-the-Trainer course as shown in the Table 2. The training course functioned as milestones for the CP Assessments in the companies, as the CP-teams (the coordinators) had to present their results at each training course.

Start up

In each of the companies a two-days kick-off meeting was arranged with the manager and selected staff. During these meetings the CPA methodology was introduced and Cleaner Production Teams were established. Furthermore, flow diagrams were elaborated and site inspections were carried out.

Following the kick-off meetings, the coordinators/facilitators from the VNCPC Train-the-Trainer course went to the companies to assist the CP-teams in carrying out the Cleaner Production Assessments in each of the companies.

During the start-up phase, the major obstacles were:

§ To convince the manager of the benefits of CP;

§ Poor record of data, especially environmental data;

§ Lack of meters for water and electricity; and

§ To avoid that the CP-team jumped to solutions.

Continuation of the CP Assessments

In the time after the kick-off meetings experts from VNCPC and from India National Cleaner Production Centre visited all companies several times to discuss the progress and to conduct work-meetings to ensure a timely progress of the CPA.

Even though VNCPC and the coordinators had several meetings with the companies, two of the participating companies showed repeatedly signs of lack of commitment. Hence, the Centre decided to stop the cooperation with the two state-owned companies, a brewery and a textile company in the beginning of year 2000.

Throughout the whole CPA, the main difficulties were:

§ Collection of baseline data;

§ To convince the managers to install simple monitoring equipment;

§ To make proper material and energy balances;

§ To ensure commitment from the managers and the CP-teams;

§ To get reports from the companies/coordinators of reasonably quality and within the deadlines.

Completion of the CPA

With the milestones and deadlines dictated by the Train-the-Trainer course, all of the thirteen companies managed to complete their first Cleaner Production Assessment at the end of August 2000. Evidently, VNCPC, the companies, and the coordinators all had to do an extra effort at the end of the programme.

In December 2000 VNCPC visited all companies with three purposes: 1) to evaluate the programme; 2) to update the information on expected or actual savings in the CPA reports; and 3) to discuss continued cooperation in 2001 to follow-up and expand the CP activities in each company. Eleven of the companies were offered a follow-up package for 2001 for a fee of 5,000,000 VND (350 USD) - all of the companies have accepted the offer. VNCPC has decided not to give the offer to two companies that have not showed much initiative during the programme.

Obstacles at the end of the first CPA:

§ To calculate the economical and environmental benefits for each of the implemented CP solutions;

§ To get the final results and the final reports from the companies and the coordinators;

§ To ensure proper monitoring and management of resources;

§ Lack of funding for (big) investments;

§ To ensure that CP is continued in the companies;

§ To be allowed to disseminate the results to other companies.

RESULTS OF THE PROGRAMME

At the end of the programme a workshop was arranged to present summary results of the CP Assessments. Table 3 presents the investments and the expected annual savings for each of the thirteen companies. The table furthermore lists the key environmental benefits; changes in management attitude; and improvements in product quality.

Overview of CP Options

At an aggregated level the total number of cleaner production options developed are: 255 options in the four textile companies; 168 options in the three pulp and paper companies; 368 options in the four food companies; and 93 options in the two metal processing & finishing companies. A total of 844 Cleaner Production Options have been developed during the programme. As shown in Figure 3 a very big share of the options are related to good housekeeping and (simple) process modifications. This tendency is seen in most CPA, however, with its magnitude it indicates that the management focus on resource consumption/losses have been weak in many of the participating companies. The number of options that requires big investment is relatively low compared to the age and technology of the existing equipment, however, without access to capital or funding, there is no point in listing a lot of options related to purchase of new equipment or installation of completely new production lines (even though investment in cleaner technologies would bring more benefits to the companies).

Economical Benefits

Table 3 specifies the investments and savings for each of the participating company (based on December 2000 figures). Per sector the expected annual savings are within the following ranges:

Textile: 2,800-73,000 USD/year

Paper: 91,000-159,000 USD/year

Food: 6,700-24,600 USD/year

Metal: 9,900-261,600 USD/year

In total the companies are expecting to save around 770,000 USD annually. All together they have invested 140,600 USD, which gives an overall pay back period of less than 2.5 months.

Environmental Benefits

Table 3 specifies the environmental benefits for each of the companies. It should be mentioned that it has been rather difficult to measure (or even estimate) the environmental benefits for some of the companies. Totalled, the environmental benefits are:

§ Air emission reduced by 20-42% due to savings in fuel consumption;

§ Total amounts of wastewater reduced by app. 20%; Total organic pollution in wastewater reduced by 20-30%;

§ Solid waste reduced by 5-30%;

§ The consumption of raw materials, coal, oil, and water have been reduced significantly.

CONCLUSIONS

At the end of the demonstration programme, August 2000, the 13 companies that have completed the programme, have all gained positive results of the CP work. Most, if not all of the company managers are planning to expand the cleaner production activities to other parts of their production to gain more economic and environmental benefits. Eleven of companies have agreed to pay fee for the VNCPC follow-up activities in 2001.

Viet Tri Paper Company have said that: “The most valuable achievement of the Cleaner Production programme in our company is that we have learned to assess our production process systematically as instructed by the Viet Nam Cleaner Production Centre. Cleaner Production options and benefits are all coming from there”.

The director of Ninh Binh Brewery have said that: “Cleaner production measures are not only complicated, but can also be quite simple like insulation of heat pipes, using water properly in the right time, right place ... and these measures have saved us a lot of money already”.

With the in-plant demonstration programme, Viet Nam now have some very good Cleaner Production success stories, and along with the 39 certified CP trainers and consultants, these results form a good basis for promoting and applying cleaner production in Viet Nam in the coming years.

To overcome the barriers for a widespread application of cleaner production, Viet Nam Cleaner Production Centre will try to create a market for CP services by:

§ Doing more awareness raising and marketing of CP services;

§ Support CP service providers in selling and delivering their services; and

§ Ensure a high quality level of Cleaner Production Assessments carried out by the Centre and by the service providers.

Viet Nam Cleaner Production Centre will furthermore continue our policy advice efforts and our training activities.

REFERENCES

[1] NCPC India (1996). Intensive Training Programme on Cleaner Production: Training Package. India National Cleaner Production Centre, India.

[2] Viet Nam Cleaner Production Centre (2000). Draft Final Cleaner Production Assessment Report Viet Tri Paper Company. Viet Nam.

[3] Viet Nam Cleaner Production Centre (2000). Draft Final Cleaner Production Assessment Report Mai Lan Paper Enterprises. Viet Nam.

[4] Viet Nam Cleaner Production Centre (2000). Draft Final Cleaner Production Assessment Report Vinh Hue Paper Company. Viet Nam.

[5] Viet Nam Cleaner Production Centre (2000). Draft Final Cleaner Production Assessment Report Saigon Textile Company. Viet Nam.

[6] Viet Nam Cleaner Production Centre (2000). Draft Final Cleaner Production Assessment Report Trung Thu Textile Company. Viet Nam.

[7] Viet Nam Cleaner Production Centre (2000). Draft Final Cleaner Production Assessment Report Nhat Tri Dyeing Unit. Viet Nam.

[8] Viet Nam Cleaner Production Centre (2000). Draft Final Cleaner Production Assessment Report Nam Dinh Textile Company. Viet Nam.

[9] Viet Nam Cleaner Production Centre (2000). Draft Final Cleaner Production Assessment Report Ninh Binh Beer Company. Viet Nam.

[10] Viet Nam Cleaner Production Centre (2000). Draft Final Cleaner Production Assessment Report Hai Long Ltd. Viet Nam.

[11] Viet Nam Cleaner Production Centre (2000). Draft Final Cleaner Production Assessment Report Cau Tre Export Company. Viet Nam.

[12] Viet Nam Cleaner Production Centre (2000). Draft Final Cleaner Production Assessment Report Nam O Seafood Enterprise. Viet Nam.

[13] Viet Nam Cleaner Production Centre (2000). Draft Final Cleaner Production Assessment Report VINAPIPE Company. Viet Nam.

[14] Viet Nam Cleaner Production Centre (2000). Draft Final Cleaner Production Assessment Report Nam Dinh Wire and Netting Joint Stock Company. Viet Nam.

Table 1. Screening of the potential for cleaner production in selected industrial sectors in Viet Nam.

Sector	Relative potential for CP
Pulp and paper	75%
Textile dyeing and printing	92%
Electro-plating	71%
Seafood production	75%
Alcoholic beverages	75%
Leather tanneries	50%
Chemical fertilizer	79%
Chemical pesticides	67%
Chemical batteries	71%
Cement production	58%
Steel production	58%
Metal finishing	71%
Mining industry	75%
Plastic production	50%

Table 2. Schedule of the in-plant demonstration activities and the training activities.

Period	Train-the-Trainer	Company follow-up with VNCPC staff
May 1999	Module 1: 6 days training of trainers
July-August 1999		Module 2: Kick-off meetings in the 15 companies
September 1999	Module 3: Presentation of Pre-Assessment results
Nov-Dec 1999		One-day follow-up with experts from India: Flow diagrams and cost assignment
December 1999	Module 4: Presentation of flow diagrams and material balances
January 2000		Two-days follow-up with experts from India: Material balances.
March 2000	Module 5: Presentation of cause analysis and CP options
March-April 2000		One-day follow-up: Discussion of CP options and feasibility study
May 2000	Module 6: Presentation of feasibility study and action plan
June-July 20000		Half-day follow-up: Discussion of action plan and final report
August 2000	Module 7: Results of the CP work in the companies
December 2000		Meetings with the companies to discuss continuation of the CP work