China's future: desalination

Seawater and membrane technology could be a major development area

BEIJING - Seawater desalination in China means big business opportunities for those coastal areas that are economically developed, according to a recent industrial report.

By October of last year, China had built 65 seawater desalination units, with a combined desalination capacity of more than 600,000 cubic meters daily, according to the State Membrane Separation Engineering and Technology Center report.

A national plan calls for a 2-million-cubic-meters daily capacity by 2015, so there is going to be heavy demand for seawater desalination equipment under independent intellectual property rights, over the next five years, the report said.

In recent years, some State-owned and privately owned companies have entered the sector in equipment manufacturing, membrane modules, and utilities.

China now has some 40 institutions involved in desalination technology R&D, and more than 600 companies manufacturing related equipment.

This past March, Hangzhou's Water Treatment Technology Development Center, a subsidiary of China National Chemical Corp (ChemChina), began work on a seawater desalination equipment base in the Qianjiang Economic Development Zone of Hangzhou.

Total cost is expected to be 650 million yuan, with a construction time of two years.

When it is completed, it will produce reverse osmosis, nano-filtration, and ultra-filtration membranes, and have a seawater desalination and water treatment capacity of 700,000 cubic meters per day.

ChemChina says that the center has already completed at least 40 seawater desalination projects with a 300,000-cu-m capacity in all. It has also provided seawater desalination equipment to countries like Kiribati and Malta.

A Chinese Academy of Engineering panel visited the center in April and commented on its contribution to both the province and the nation in developing the industry and meeting people's drinking water needs.

Gao Congjie, of the Academy and expert in the field, said that it has been 40 years since China began its desalination R&D, and it is now time for the mass application of the technology, especially with the reverse osmosis membrane method, which is more suited to China.

Gao said that in the next decade China will catch the world's attention in seawater desalination.

China Daily

(China Daily 05/24/2011 page15)