My Country Ranks First in the World in the Number of Patent Applications for Membrane Technology Applications

With increasingly severe water pollution and dwindling water resources, more and more municipal wastewater treatment plants are considering reusing treated wastewater. Membrane technology, which utilizes the selective separation properties of membranes to separate, purify, and concentrate different components of a liquid feed, has become an important means of wastewater reuse due to its low energy consumption, high separation efficiency, and simple process.

The promulgation and implementation of policies and regulations such as the "12th Five-Year Plan for the Development of New Materials Industry," the "Action Plan for Water Pollution Prevention and Control," the "Regulations on Urban Drainage and Wastewater Treatment," and the "Standards for Drinking Water Quality" have opened up a broader market for membrane technology and played a positive role in promoting its application.

It is reported that the main applications of membrane technology in urban wastewater treatment include reverse osmosis, nanofiltration, ultrafiltration, microfiltration, electrodialysis, and membrane biotechnology. "Currently, core patent technologies are mainly concentrated in the hands of patent holders in the United States and Japan," said Yang Yuhan, a researcher at the Industrial Intelligence Research Center of the Documentation and Information Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Before 1996, Japan had the most patent applications; subsequently, the United States replaced Japan as the main source country for membrane treatment technologies related to urban wastewater treatment globally. Although my country started later, its development in membrane technology application in urban wastewater treatment has been rapid over the past decade. Currently, China has surpassed the United States in patent applications for membrane technology, ranking first globally.

Research reports show that in terms of patent technology export and market distribution, China is the primary source of membrane treatment technology for urban wastewater, accounting for 48% of global patents, followed by the United States, South Korea, Japan, and Canada. China is also a major market for urban wastewater membrane treatment technology, accounting for 37% of the global market, followed by the United States at 14%. Other countries and regions include South Korea, Japan, Australia, Canada, and India, each accounting for less than 10%.

Despite China's rapid development in recent years, with its number of patents ranking first globally, a slight drawback is the significant lack of international patent portfolio deployment.

Researchers point out that among the top 15 patent agencies globally in terms of patent applications, only one Chinese agency, Wave Eagle, has a patent portfolio in the United States; the others have only deployed patents in China. Conversely, among the top 15 institutions in other countries, except for the Korea Institute of Building Technology, which only has patents in South Korea, the other institutions have patents in multiple countries outside their home countries. Besides their home countries as their primary patent application destinations, these foreign institutions also focus on regions such as China, the United States, and Japan.