Coal used for heating, urban vehicle exhaust, and straw burning have been identified as the main causes of haze and high PM2.5 pollution in Northeast China. During the Harbin Winter Zone Expo, research teams, both home and abroad, proposed a series of solutions for the pollution.

Coal additive increases combustion efficiency

A total of 3.1 million tons of coal is used for heating in Harbin every winter. Due to incomplete combustion, large amounts of sulfide are produced.
During the expo, the School of Energy Science and Engineering of Harbin Institute of Technology created a kind of coal additive. The additive can unite with the sulfide and form a new substance, greatly promoting combustion efficiency.

New heating supply pipes

For years, heat waste resulting from poor heating supply pipes has been enormous. New heating supply pipelines are now on the way.

A new pre-insulated pipe was exhibited in the expo. The pipe was produced by Logstor, a world leading manufacturer of pre-insulated pipe systems. It has delivered more than 300,000 km of pre-insulated pipes to Europe. The pipe can adapt to extreme cold and can maintain complete thermal integrity for a minimum of 30 years. It is incredibly energy-efficient and can reduce thermal loss by 12 to 22 percent.

Logstor has already delivered 50 km pipes in Harbin in 2013 and is expected to deliver another 150 km this year.

'Industrial vitamin'  from straw

Straw burning has become one of the top air pollutants in autumn and winter. Recently, researchers have extracted a kind of biological flocculant that can be used to purify water. Professor Ma of Harbin Institute of Technology explained that the biological flocculent is a kind of additive, or “industrial vitamin,” that is capable of coagulating pollutants.

When used to purify water, the biological flocculants extracted from the straw produced no pollution. A ton of straw can produce biological flocculants worth 800 yuan ($132.16).

Methane plants for central heating

Waste resources like human waste and crop waste are abundant in rural areas, so methane plants can be built in villages. However, once waste sorting is done properly in cities, restaurant waste can also be used as a resource of methane gas.

It has long been recognized that methane gas can be used as energy. However, methane gas cannot be used in winter for heating due to poor management. In the expo, experts proposed building large methane plants to provide central heating for villagers in winter.