In June, lush vegetation thrives across Ulaanbaatar. The Ulaanbaatar Central Wastewater Treatment Plant, a key livelihood cooperation project between China and Mongolia contracted by CHINA RAILWAY NO.4 ENGINEERING GROUP CO., LTD., was officially inaugurated.

Aerial panoramic view of the newly built Ulaanbaatar Central Wastewater Treatment Plant in Mongolia at dusk on June 11. The brightly lit wastewater treatment plant forms a beautiful contrast against the city dotted with countless household lights.

Adopting Chinese standards, technologies and solutions, this environmental project fills Mongolia’s gap in large-scale standardized wastewater treatment facilities and sets a new benchmark for pragmatic cooperation and green joint development between China and Mongolia.

On June 13, Chinese project staff visited a local herdsman’s yurt and sat together chatting warmly with Mongolian residents. The completion and operation of the wastewater treatment plant vividly embodies the profound partnership of good-neighborliness, friendship and people-to-people exchanges between China and Mongolia.

Ulaanbaatar is home to half of Mongolia’s total population. Accelerated urbanization has driven surging discharge of domestic and industrial wastewater. Laggard wastewater treatment infrastructure leads to massive direct sewage discharge, polluting the Tuul River, which further contaminates the Selenge River and Lake Baikal and threatens regional ecological security. Improving the wastewater treatment system has become an urgent livelihood demand for the city’s sustainable development.

On June 15, representatives from China and Mongolia as well as project constructors gathered at the commissioning ceremony of the newly built Ulaanbaatar Central Wastewater Treatment Plant, which marked the official launch of water supply for the facility.

Ulaanbaatar lies at a high latitude with frigid climate, featuring a five-month-long winter and an extremely short effective construction window. Low temperatures destabilize concrete performance and restrict construction procedures. Coupled with a lack of experience and supporting resources for large-scale wastewater treatment projects, the construction faced multiple daunting challenges.

On June 13, the sky was dyed by sunset glow. Silhouettes of two operation and maintenance workers stood on the platform of anaerobic digestion tanks, alongside a spherical biogas storage membrane on the right. Buildings of downtown Ulaanbaatar loomed faintly in the distance.

The construction team of CHINA RAILWAY NO.4 ENGINEERING GROUP CO., LTD. (based in Hefei, Anhui Province) benchmarked against China’s infrastructure construction standards to strictly control the quality of all construction procedures. Tailored to the extreme cold climate, the team optimized construction schemes and pioneered low-temperature construction techniques: thermal insulation enclosures were added for biological treatment units, and customized anti-freezing devices were installed for advanced treatment equipment and pipelines to guarantee stable year-round operation of the whole plant.

On June 14, an aerial shot captures the newly built Ulaanbaatar Central Wastewater Treatment Plant under a clear sky. Complete sets of sedimentation tanks, biochemical tanks and resource recycling supporting buildings are neatly arranged, with the whole city of Ulaanbaatar and grassland mountains forming the backdrop of the plant.

As a landmark livelihood project jointly built by China and Mongolia under the frameworks of the Belt and Road Initiative and Mongolia’s "Steppe Road" Program, this project exports Chinese wastewater treatment technologies, experience and standards to Mongolia. It helps the country shore up its infrastructure weaknesses and improve municipal supporting facilities, further deepening mutually beneficial bilateral cooperation through green joint development.

On June 15, at the water commissioning and inauguration ceremony of the newly built Ulaanbaatar Central Wastewater Treatment Plant, Chinese leaders met frontline project constructors cordially and waved greetings to them.

On June 13, the glow of the setting sun spread across the compound of the newly built Ulaanbaatar Central Wastewater Treatment Plant, where recycling facilities including large anaerobic digesters and biogas storage membranes were laid out in neat order.

On June 13, workers conducted inspection and operation in front of the pipeline control cabinet supporting the spherical biogas storage membrane. The membrane stores biogas generated from anaerobic digestion, which is then delivered to power generators to produce clean electric energy.

On June 13, inside the laboratory, Chinese technicians observed microbial samples of wastewater under a microscope while recording water quality data simultaneously.

On June 13, flow push aeration equipment was neatly installed inside the fully enclosed membrane aeration tank, where operation and maintenance staff carried out daily inspections.

On June 16, an aerial view captures the Tuul River in Ulaanbaatar, presenting a picturesque landscape interwoven with rivers, forests and grasslands. The China-Mongolia jointly built wastewater treatment plant has been put into operation to provide long-term protection for the local natural ecosystem of rivers and grasslands.

On June 13, inside the biogas power generation workshop of the newly built Ulaanbaatar Central Wastewater Treatment Plant, Chinese technicians carried out equipment inspections on the large biogas generating units.

As night fell on June 13, street lamps cast reflections on the still water surface of the sedimentation tank. Two operation and maintenance staff patrolled the equipment along the corridor, ensuring non-stop urban wastewater treatment for Ulaanbaatar around the clock.

On June 13, the large anaerobic digestion tanks of the newly built Ulaanbaatar Central Wastewater Treatment Plant glowed brightly under the night sky. Operation and maintenance workers climbed onto the tanks to conduct equipment inspections.

On June 13, Chinese technicians conducted data observation at the secondary sedimentation tank of the Ulaanbaatar Central Wastewater Treatment Plant in Mongolia.

On June 14, Chinese and Mongolian technicians jointly inspected the large biogas generating units.

On June 14, an aerial view captured the Ulaanbaatar River in Mongolia, where lush vegetation thrives and cattle and sheep graze peacefully. Since the wastewater treatment plant was put into operation, direct discharge of urban sewage has been greatly reduced, safeguarding the original ecology of the river and grasslands.

Source: anhuinews.com