Hequ Xikou Township Human and Livestock Manure Treatment and Resource Recovery Project (CNY 6.17 million)

Project overview The human and livestock manure treatment and resource recovery project of Xikou Township, Hequ County, sits south of Ke Village in Xikou Township, Hequ County, Xinzhou, Shanxi. It covers 8,488.13 m2 and represents an investment of CNY 6.1715 million. The township government leads the project and funds a dedicated O&M budget, while third-party operator Shanxi Zenong Environmental Technology runs it under a "government-led, enterprise-operated" model. Investment began in July 2024 and the plant entered operation in April 2025. The facility handles both rural domestic night soil and livestock manure. Hequ lies along the Yellow River in northwest Shanxi, where some older neighbourhoods lack complete sewer networks and small farms often have inadequate manure treatment, so uncontrolled discharge and odour have long been a problem. The project was built to close that gap and is a sample of rural non-point-source control under the Yellow River conservation strategy. Process The train covers weighing, three-stage settling, solid-liquid separation, liquid purification and centralised deodorisation. Incoming manure is weighed and settled, then separated: solids become raw material for organic fertiliser, while the liquid is purified to standard and fed to a black-membrane biogas pond, where it is converted into liquid fertiliser and returned to farmland - a "collect, treat, return" loop. Three sewage transfer trucks, one purification truck and one dump truck collect and move manure from scattered farms and rural households, addressing the "many small sources" collection problem. Results The plant eases the county's manure disposal bottleneck and cuts direct discharge into nearby water bodies and the air. Solids feed organic fertiliser production and the liquid fraction returns to fields as fertiliser, reducing chemical fertiliser use. Local reports say the project created jobs for 10 nearby villagers, and the township government set up a dedicated O&M fund to keep it running. Villagers report less odour and fewer flies in summer and a cleaner living environment. Not disclosed Design treatment capacity (t/d or m3/d), effluent standards and unit design parameters have not been published; no estimates are made here. Sources 1. China News Service: "From pollution burden to green wealth: manure resource recovery drives revitalisation in Hequ, Shanxi", 1 July 2025, https://www.chinanews.com.cn/sh/2025/07-01/10440983.shtml 2. People's Weekly: "Hequ County, Shanxi opens a new chapter in rural manure management", 30 June 2025, https://www.peopleweekly.cn/html/2025/chengshi_0630/251141.html 3. Hequ County People's Government: "From pollution burden to green wealth: Hequ opens a new chapter in rural manure management", 30 June 2025, http://hequ.gov.cn/zwyw/zwyw_13879/202506/t20250630_4100308.html Image: aerial view of the Xikou Township manure treatment centre, black membrane biogas pond at the centre and the blue-roofed treatment workshop on the right (in operation since April 2025; image source: People's Weekly)