There is a huge market space for irradiation technology for environmental protection, and wastewater treatment is currently the main application field.

Environmental protection irradiation technology is a technology that uses ionizing radiation to treat environmental pollutants to eliminate or reduce environmental harm. Environmentally friendly irradiation technology can use gamma rays or high-energy electron beams to treat pollutants. It can be used in the treatment of wastewater, waste gas, solid waste, etc., and can be widely used in printing and dyeing, chemical industry, pharmaceutical and other fields. With the improvement of environmental protection requirements, my country’s industrial waste treatment rate has increased. However, using traditional treatment methods, the treatment effect of heavy pollutants cannot meet the requirements. Therefore, irradiation technology for environmental protection has attracted attention.

In terms of waste gas treatment, electron beams can promote the generation of strong oxidizing active particles, which react with sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, etc. in the waste gas. By adding ammonia, fertilizers such as ammonium sulfate and ammonium nitrate can be produced to achieve the purpose of desulfurization and denitrification. In terms of solid waste treatment, environmentally friendly irradiation technology can harmlessly treat hazardous solid waste, and can extract and reuse elements such as manganese, zinc, nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium in sludge. In terms of wastewater treatment, environmentally friendly irradiation technology can speed up the decomposition of organic pollutants and precipitate heavy metal ions for reuse.

According to the “China’s Environmental Protection Irradiation Technology Market Feasibility Research Report 2022-2026” released by the Industrial Research Center, my country’s industrial The scale is large and the discharge of industrial wastewater is large. Especially the wastewater discharged by the printing and dyeing, chemical, pharmaceutical and other industries has complex water quality and high content of refractory pollutants. The use of environmentally friendly irradiation technology can decompose or degrade the pollutants in the wastewater and remove harmful substances. It is denatured and can handle a variety of pollutants with high processing efficiency and will not cause secondary pollution. In my country and around the world, wastewater treatment is the main application field of irradiation technology for environmental protection.

Compared with gamma rays, electron beams have weaker penetrating ability, but have high energy utilization. The device is an electron accelerator, which is easy to start and stop. After shutting down, it no longer produces rays. The water treated by it is non-radioactive and has high processing efficiency. It has the advantages of higher efficiency and better safety, so it has a high application rate in the field of industrial wastewater treatment. In our country, industrial wastewater irradiation treatment basically uses electron beam irradiation technology; internationally, electron beam irradiation technology is listed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as the main research direction for the peaceful use of atomic energy in the 21st century.

Cases of the application of radiation technology for environmental protection in my country include: In 2017, my country’s first electron beam irradiation technology demonstration project for industrial wastewater treatment, constructed by China General Nuclear Power Corporation, was officially launched in Jinhua, Zhejiang, for the treatment of printing and dyeing wastewater; in 2020, the global project built by China General Nuclear Power Corporation The largest electron beam treatment industrial wastewater project is put into operation in Jiangmen, Guangdong, with a daily wastewater treatment capacity of 30,000 tons; in 2021, my country’s first electron beam irradiation treatment medical wastewater demonstration device jointly developed by China Guangdong Nuclear Power and Tsinghua University passed the acceptance inspection in Shiyan, Hubei Officially put into use.

Industry Analysts People said that my country’s environmental protection market is huge. Looking at the industrial wastewater treatment market alone, in 2021, my country’s industrial wastewater treatment market will be The market size is approximately 106 billion yuan. It is expected that from 2022 to 2026, my country’s industrial wastewater treatment market will continue to grow at an average annual compound growth rate of about 4.5%. As environmental protection requirements continue to increase and waste emission standards continue to improve, my country’s environmental protection irradiation technology industry has broad room for development.