Day 8 – Qingdao City, Shangodng

May 22, 2017

Asia Symbol Manufacturing Facility

We left our five-star hotel after indulging in a delicious buffet breakfast to start our day. After about a thirty-minute drive, we arrived at the Asia Symbol Manufacturing Facility in Qingdao City, Shandong, home of the world’s largest continuous digester and recovery boiler. This company holds a quarter of the market share for market pulp in China. Asia Symbol is the number one producer of hardwood market pulp in China and ranked third world-wide. This particular facility contains the largest capacity single production line in the world. The mill receives its chips via a port the company leases from the government in 50-year increments. The port services 12 vessels that deliver their products all over the world. Each vessel can carry about 70,000-80,000 tons and takes 1-2 days to unload. The port receives an average of 300,000 green tons per day, mostly from Vietnam and Indonesia. The mill is self-sufficient in power and uses its sludge to make fertilizer, which it also sells. Unfortunately, the facility was in the middle of its shutdown during our visit so we received some background information on the company and a lecture on continuous digesters given by Dr. Dehai Chen and Dr. Jian Er Jiang, both alumni of our program. Dr. Chen received his PhD from NC State in 1987 and works as Mill Technical Head. Dr. Jiang received his Masters from NC State in 1989 and works as a Technical Advisor at Asia Symbol.

Waterfront Walking

After the lecture, with had a lot of questions from Dr. Jameel, we rode the bus down the mill’s port, onto the docks to observe the large cranes and claws used to unload the ships. Next, we headed to a nearby waterfront buffet restaurant. Here, most of us tried a local staple: snake wine, a rice wine with a whole snake inside. After lunch, we took a walk along the waterfront to see the yachts, wind surfers, tour boats, and fishing boats. After a quick photo op on the Pacific Ocean shoreline, we set off on a four-hour bus ride to our next city, Jinan.

by guest blogger: Chris Herring and Alex Hight