Market Position of China's Membrane Sector to Lift

In 2011, the strategic position of China's membrane sector improved significantly and the market development for membrane was booming in the situation of accelerating industrial mix adjustment, developing the low carbon economy and focusing on the energy saving and environmental protection. The vast majority of China's membrane enterprises achieved the expansion of production scale and substantial growth in sales value and economic benefits. According to the preliminary statistics, in the executive members of China Membrane Industry Association, 23 membrane component production enterprises achieved combined revenue of RMB2.603 billion and a total sales revenue of RMB4.878 billion, respectively, up 40.34% and 35.37% year-on-year.
   Separation membrane production is a typical strategic emerging industry in China. With its strategic position in the fields like energy-saving and environmental protection, industrial and municipal water treatment, and various gas and liquid separation being gradually highlighted, separation membrane has developed rapidly. Taking Beijing Origin Water Technology Company - a typical enterprise as an example, the company has completed over 1 000 sewage reclamation projects and more than 100 safe drinking water and wetland projects. The total scale of sewage reclamation projects implemented by the company has reached over 3.0 million tons/day, and over 1.0 billion tons/year of high quality reclaimed water is added for China each year. In addition, the net profit of Beijing Origin Water Technology Company was expected to grow by 90%-100% in 2011.
   At present, the membrane can not develop separating with water, and water safety is inseparable from the membrane. Membrane separation technology still plays a leading role in the seawater desalination. China's draft of the 12th Five-year Program for the ocean science and technology development explicitly points out the need to encourage water desalination, and accelerate autonomy and scale development of the seawater desalination. China's capacity of seawater desalination will hopefully increase from 660 000 tons/day in 2011 to over 2.0 million tons/day in 2015. On October 10th, 2011 Hangzhou Water Treatment Technology Development Center of ChemChina started up the 50 000 tons/day seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) desalination project in Caofeidian, Hebei province. The project is the largest project of its kind in China.
   The strategic position of separation membrane in the related application fields has been strengthened. In the aspect of the municipal water, new standard for drinking water "Sanitary Standard for Drinking Water" will be implemented compulsorily on July 1st, 2012 at latest. The number of the drinking water index in the new standard increases to 106 from 35 in original standard, and 8 of 35 indexes in the original standards are revised. It is currently the world's most stringent drinking water standard. Relying on the traditional water treatment process is unlikely to reach the standard requirements, so using membrane process for the deep treatment of drinking water becomes an essential way.
   In the aspect of the industrial wastewater treatment and recycling utilization, the membrane process has been widely recognized. The wastewater zero discharge project in Zhangjiagang Free Trade Zone can produce super pure water back to be used in the enterprises of industrial zone and realize the zero discharge of sewage treatment plant by treating 20 000 tons/day discharge water in the sewage treatment plant through membrane filtration, reverse osmosis membrane desalination and electric desalination membrane deep treatment.
   Besides, in the context of food safety concern, the membrane separation technology has been obtaining unprecedented attention and usage in the sectors like food and pharmaceutical. For example, in the milk enterprises, the membrane filtration cold sterilization technology can filter microorganisms under the condition of low temperature and prevent the nutrient composition of milk from damaging at the same time.