Glyphosate Producers Embarrassed By Wastes Treatment    

Thanks to brisk demand globally, China's glyphosate production has been moving on, approaching 250 thousand tons per year. However, the waste water, which is the major pollutant emission from the glyphosate production and features with huge amount, high concentration, high environmental potency, is difficult to be decomposed and controlled. The pollution problem has caused attention of the government that has announced publicly a new stricter discharge standard for comments, named the Effluent Standard of Water Based Pollutants from Organo-phosphorus Pesticide Industry. This standard will soon be implemented over the country, which will make glyphosate producers face huge challenge.
   The main pollutants in the waste water discharged from the glyphosate production include formaldehyde, glycine, hydrogen chloride, di-glycine, phosphorous acid, chloride ion and glyphosate. Chinese producers, particularly using dimethyl phosphite technology, who will manage 17 tons of waste water when gain one ton of glyphosate, have found no solution to the end waste water after bio-decomposition. The producers have to only dilute the waste water to meet the effluent standards. Some illegal firms even concentrate the waste water that contains around 2% glyphosate to a content of 10% and sell the pollutants-containing water as glyphosate formulations, causing heavy environmental problems and harm to human health. Such illegal action has been prohibited now.
   The glyphosate producers who use IDA technology, the second generation innovated technology, have an easier solution in treating wastes. Shenyang Research Institute of Chemical Industry has developed a new method to treat wastes from glyphosate production using IDA technology. It is reported the treatment cost for this method is around RMB177 per ton of waste water.