Ultrafiltration Membranes, Which Are Highly Valued: Filtering out All Dust and Leaving Only Clear Water

Solving my country's drinking water quality problems requires advancements in technology and products, as well as the industrialization of related equipment. To this end, the National Major Science and Technology Project for Water Pollution Control and Treatment (referred to as the "Water Special Project") included a sub-project on "Industrialization of PVC Membrane Modules and Equipment for Drinking Water Treatment" under the theme of "Drinking Water Safety Assurance." Recently, this project passed its acceptance review. Experts believe this demonstrates that the industrialization process of ultrafiltration membrane modules and equipment in my country has made significant progress.

Project Background: The Highly Valued Ultrafiltration Membrane

Drinking water affects every household, and its quality is closely related to residents' health. Traditional drinking water treatment technologies—coagulation, sedimentation, filtration, and disinfection—are lengthy, require large areas, and are difficult to operate and maintain, facing numerous challenges in achieving stable water quality standards. The purpose of the "Industrialization of PVC Membrane Modules and Equipment for Drinking Water Treatment" sub-project under the Water Special Project is to use ultrafiltration membrane technology to solve the problems encountered in drinking water treatment.

Industry insiders explain that ultrafiltration membrane technology is a new generation of drinking water treatment technology, capable of efficiently removing pollutants such as particulate matter, bacteria, viruses, and algae that are difficult to treat with traditional processes. However, the core of ultrafiltration technology—ultrafiltration membrane modules and complete sets of equipment—has long been controlled by large foreign companies, resulting in high prices and hindering the technology's widespread market acceptance and large-scale application in my country.

Research and promotion of ultrafiltration membranes in my country began in the early 1990s. Hainan Lisheng Water Purification Technology Industry Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Lisheng Enterprise) was at the forefront in this field, achieving high levels of technology and products and possessing considerable production scale. In 2007, the world's largest "membrane-based" water treatment plant—the Kaohsiung Water Treatment Plant in Taiwan—adopted all of Lisheng Enterprise's ultrafiltration membrane modules. Subsequently, many water plants in China also adopted Lisheng Enterprise's ultrafiltration membranes. At the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, this technology also provided safe and hygienic drinking water for visitors.

Therefore, during the 12th Five-Year Plan period, the Water Special Project selected Lisheng Enterprise as the undertaking unit for the project "Industrialization of PVC Membrane Modules and Equipment for Drinking Water Treatment," aiming to cultivate leading enterprises, improve the manufacturing level of equipment, replace similar imported products, enhance the company's international competitiveness, and drive the development of domestically produced materials, equipment, and upstream and downstream industries.

Since the project's inception in 2011, Lisheng Enterprise, in conjunction with Hohai University, Foshan Water Industry Group Co., Ltd., and the Tianjin Port Free Trade Zone Water Treatment New Technology Industrialization Base, formed a technical team of nearly 100 people, including highly qualified personnel specializing in polymer materials, chemical engineering, water supply and drainage, environmental engineering, mechatronics technology, mold design and manufacturing, and other related fields. Over three years, they achieved all the goals set for the project.

Results: Breakthrough in Domestic PVC Ultrafiltration Membrane Manufacturing Technology

Through unremitting efforts, the research team has achieved significant results in many aspects, including the research and development of new membrane materials and equipment, the industrialization of ultrafiltration membrane equipment and base construction, ultrafiltration membrane pretreatment and membrane fouling control, and ultrafiltration membrane testing and evaluation methods.

Chen Lianggang, the project leader and chairman of Lifesense Enterprise, explained that through innovation and improvement of the membrane formulation, the new generation of PVC ultrafiltration membranes features a unique sponge-like membrane structure and a novel design with an added internal support layer. This increases the pure water flux of the new PVC ultrafiltration membrane by more than 30%, achieves a tensile strength of 280N, and significantly improves its antifouling ability. Lifesense Enterprise's world-first PVC alloy ultrafiltration membrane technology not only improves ultrafiltration membrane performance but also reduces the price by two-thirds, making large-scale application of this technology in the water treatment industry possible.