Membrane Industry Must Keep Developing High-end Products to Realize Bright Prospects

The Membrane Industry Association of China

Technical capability and industrialization surge

Membrane separation technology, a new technology developing rapidly since the 21st century began, is now widely applied in water resources regeneration, new energy development, environmental protection, upgrades in traditional industries and more modern high-tech industries. During the “Twelfth Five Year Plan” period (2010-2015), the production value of China’s membrane industry has grown at an annual average rate of over 20%. The production value of separation membranes was around RMB30 billion in 2010, and reached RMB73.5 billion in 2014. If the production of photoelectric film is included, the value had climbed to RMB100 billion in 2014, the highest so far. The Bohai region has become China’s biggest production base of reverse osmosis membranes and hollow fiber membranes. The Yangtze River Delta hosts China’s biggest cluster of industrial membrane applications. Due to constant quality improvements, good performance and low prices, China-made microfiltration membranes, ultrafiltration membranes and some types of reverse osmosis membranes have entered the international market along with the necessary engineering services.

1. Development speed slowed down a little

Revenue from membrane products increased in 2014 by 26.9%, year over year, for some of China’s key membrane companies (excluding photoelectric membrane makers), according to The Membrane Industry Association of China. Some industry leaders – Beijing Origin Water Technology Co., Ltd., Tianjin MOTIMO Membrane Technology Co., Ltd., Jiangsu Jiuwu Hi-Tech Co., Ltd., Zhejiang Creation Environmental Technology Co., Ltd., Beijing Scinor Membrane Technology Co., Ltd., and Jiangxi JDL Environmental Protection Co., Ltd. – achieved year over year revenue growth exceeding 30%. Domestic producers are still comparatively small in scale. Over 80% achieved annual sales of less than RMB10 million. Few companies recorded sales over RMB100 million.

2. Great technical progress

In recent years, China has made great progress in membrane technology, forming a nearly complete production chain for high performance membrane materials, with more than 100 institutes and universities, more than 300 membrane producers and over 1 000 engineering companies engaged in R&D. China has developed a range of products with intellectual property rights for high performance water treatment membranes, gas separation membranes, ionic membranes and photoelectric membranes, some of which have been commercially produced. The technology levels of both production and applications have been improved significantly. Research breakthroughs have been made for some special separation membranes and functional membranes, such as bipolar membranes, pervaporation membranes, medical use membranes and photoelectric membranes.   
(1) Some research progresses reach world leading level
The Membrane Science & Technology Research Institute of Nanjing Tech University of Jiangsu has become a world leader in fundamental study and application research for ceramic membranes. Jiangsu Jiuwu Hi-Tech Co., Ltd. has constructed China’s biggest production base for ceramic membranes. Research breakthroughs for acid/alkali recovery membranes have been achieved by the University of Science and Technology of China together with Shandong Tianwei Membrane Technology Co., Ltd. Shanghai Jiao Tong University cooperates with Dongyue Group Ltd., and together they have solved the key production problems of ionic membranes, from the development of raw materials through formulation to final production.
(2) Both microfiltration membranes and ultrafiltration membranes can be produced commercially
Several producers – Hainan Litree Purifying Technology Co., Ltd., the microfiltration membrane and ultrafiltration membrane made by Tianjin MOTIMO Membrane Technology Co., Ltd., Shandong Zhaojin Motian Co., Ltd., Beijing Scinor Membrane Technology Co., Ltd., Zhejiang Creation Environmental Technology Co., Ltd., Beijing Origin Water Technology Co., Ltd., Beijing Crystec Co., Ltd. and Xiamen Suntar Membrane Technology Co., Ltd. – make polyvinyl chloride (PVC) ultrafiltration membranes that meet the performance requirements for urban and rural water supply and industrial sewage treatment.
(3) Breakthroughs in reverse osmosis membranes
The reverse osmosis membrane material produced by Toray Bluestar Membrane Co., Ltd. and Hangzhou Water Treatment Technology Development Center Co., Ltd. has been successfully used in a sea water desalination project. Vontron Technology Co., Ltd. is capable of producing 9 million square meters per year of reverse osmosis membrane with rejection performance of 99.75%. The company is ready to use the product in a 10 000 t/d sea water desalination project.
(4) Chinese CO2 separation devices now competitive worldwide
Various gas separation membranes produced by Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics of CAS and Dalian Tianbang National Engineering Research Center of Membrane Technology Co., Ltd. have become prominent at home and abroad. Recently, Petroliam Nasional Berhad (PETRONAS) signed a cooperation contract with Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics of CAS providing that PETRONAS will use the CO2 collecting device developed by Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics of CAS for exploring offshore oil and gas in Malaysia.
(5) Continuous improvement and innovation in application technologies
Many membrane makers develop and launch new membrane products and application technologies to widen the range of applications and marketability. For example, Jiangxi JDL Environmental Protection Co., Ltd. launched a new-type FMBR sewage treatment system that incorporates remote control, supervision and routing inspection. It does not need to be matched to a long distance pipeline; hence quality and effectiveness are greatly improved. More than 2 000 sets of this system have been sold and installed nationwide, becoming a highlight of membrane applications.

3. Membrane products enter international market

In recent years, plenty of China-made membrane products and their attendant engineering services are sold on the international market. Membrane products made by Hainan Litree Purifying Technology Co., Ltd., Tianjin MOTIMO Membrane Technology Co., Ltd., Shandong Zhaojin Motian Co., Ltd., Hangzhou Water Treatment Technology Development Center Co., Ltd., Beijing Grant Membrane Separation Equipment Co., Ltd., Xiamen Suntar Membrane Technology Co., Ltd. and Shanghai SINAP Membrane Tech Co., Ltd. have been sold in dozens of countries and regions, including Japan, Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Brazil, Russia, Europe, and the U.S. A membrane housing made by Harbin ROPV Industry Development Center has also sold well abroad.

Huge market demand

1. Water business market

* Treatment of municipal sewage  
In 2015, China will treat 167 million tons of municipal sewage per day. Treating 30% of that by membranes will consume 20.24 million square meters of membrane material, leading to RMB16 billion of sales revenue for the membrane industry.  
* Treatment of industrial waste water  
According to China Association of Environmental Protection Industry, China needs to spend RMB125 billion in treating industrial waste water during 2011-2015. If 30% of that goes for membrane technology, that will be another RMB40 billion of revenue.    
* Drinking water treatment
In line with China’s “Twelfth Five-Year Plan”, RMB46.5 billion will be put into upgrading old drinking water treatment plants, and RMB94 billion will be spent in the construction of new drinking water plants, so the total investment will be RMB140.5 billion. Investment in the membrane method, the mainstream technology in this business, is projected to absorb 20% of the total investment, or RMB28 billion.   
* Sea water desalination
During the 2010-2015 period, China plans to add 1.9 million tons per day of sea water desalination capacity. If the membrane method is employed for 70% of that capacity, that implies RMB4.4 billion revenue for membrane makers.
* Brackish water desalination  
In China the brackish water resource that is worth exploring amounts to 20 billion cubic meters per year. It is conservatively estimated that the capacity of brackish water desalination will eventually reach 1 billion tons per year, bringing about revenue exceeding RMB10 billion.  

2. Ionic membrane and bipolar membrane market

Ionic exchange membranes and bipolar membranes are both widely used. Taking the use of perfluoro ionic exchange membrane in the chlor-alkali industry for example, China is now capable of producing 40 million tons of caustic soda through the ionic membrane method. If 30 million t/a continues to operate and the ionic membrane material is renewed every three years, then 200 000 square meters of perfluoro ionic exchange membrane is needed per year, leading to RMB1 billion of annual revenue.
As for the application of bipolar membrane in upgrading the processes of the chemical fiber industry, China’s chemical fiber industry discharges around 20 million tons of waste water containing sodium sulfate every year. Using bipolar membranes to recover sodium sulfate can bring huge economic benefits to the chemical fiber makers and generate around RMB3 billion in revenue yearly.     

3. Gas separation membrane market

In recent years, the market for gas separation membranes has developed very fast, forming a large scale industry. Using membrane to recover hydrogen is the most mature and biggest application, already having penetrated the refining and energy industries and the synthesis of ammonia. Gas separation membranes have also been successfully applied in enriching oxygen, enriching nitrogen, removing acid gases from natural gas, removing moisture from natural gas, etc. Using membranes to remove CO2 from natural gas, petroleum gas, furnace gas, shale gas or bio methane can generate huge profits.
In high temperature gas separation, the metal microfiltration membrane and high purity/high compact silicon carbide microfiltration membrane developed by the Northwest Institute for Non-Ferrous Metal Research and other organizations can be used widely for gas-solid separation and liquid-solid separation in the manufacture of coal chemicals, petrochemicals and organic chemicals – for example, recovering palladium carbon catalyst during caprolactam production, filtering dust from the reducing gas in polysilicon production, or filtering powder coal for coal gasification. China’s demand for metal membrane components is expected to exceed RMB1 billion annually in the foreseeable future.    

4. Photoelectric membrane market

At present, dozens of companies in China develop photoelectric membranes and produce them commercially. China Lucky Group Corporation, Zhejiang Nanyang Technology Co., Ltd. and SKC Advanced Materials (Suzhou) Co., Ltd. are among the largest in scale. China has more than 20 lithium ion battery diaphragm manufacturers, including Shenzhen Senior Technology Materials Co., Ltd., Xinxiang Zhongke Science and Technology Co., Ltd., Foshan Jinhui Hi-Tech Optoelectronic Material Co., Ltd., Nantong Tianfeng New Electronic Material Co., Ltd., Tianjin DG Membrane Tech Co., Ltd.

5. Specialty separation membrane market

Acid/alkali recovery membrane is used mainly in metallurgy. China has an annual demand for 500 000 square meters, with a market value exceeding RMB2 billion. In particular, molecular sieve pervaporation membranes can be widely used in the production and recovery of organic solvents – for example, purification and the removal of water from alcohols, esters and ketones – which helps to renovate traditional processes, saving energy and enhancing effectiveness.
Medical-use blood dialysis membranes have been welcomed by the market. In 2013, the U.S., Japan and the European Union led the world in the application of blood dialysis, and its use in those markets will grow. China consumes around 10 million units of blood dialysis membrane each year, valued at RMB1.5 billion and predicted to grow at 10% annually.
Pervaporation membranes have a big potential market in the application of oil and gas recovery. At present, 1.5 million tons of organic substances in China evaporate into the atmosphere every year – the main source of the air’s content of PM2.5 particles. If advanced third generation membrane technology is used to recover organic solvents, it can cut costs significantly and enhance safety and reliability. The market is expected to reach RMB50 billion to RMB60 billion. The oil/gas fumes recovery devices developed by a team led by Tsinghua University have already been used in oil depots and gasoline stations.