|
|
The National Development and Reform Commission has issued four consecutive interpretation articles on whether the water treatment membrane material industry needs to embrace new development?The National Development and Reform Commission has issued four consecutive interpretation articles on whether the water treatment membrane material industry needs to embrace new development? Xianji.com, July 23rd: Recently, the National Development and Reform Commission has issued four consecutive interpretation articles, providing a comprehensive interpretation of the "14th Five Year Plan" for the development of urban sewage treatment and resource utilization. During the 14th Five Year Plan period, efforts will be made to accelerate the utilization of sewage resources, driving the empowerment and upgrading of the sewage treatment industry. The key material, water treatment membranes, will also receive increasing attention and promote the development of China's water treatment membrane industry. According to estimates, the total investment in China's membrane based recycled water treatment market will reach 107.1 billion yuan. With the continuous acceleration of sewage resource utilization, the market space of 100 billion yuan will be accelerated. Water treatment membranes have a wide range of applications and a variety of product types Water treatment membranes are widely used and have a variety of product types. From the perspective of product types and technologies, they can be divided into reverse osmosis membranes (RO), ultrafiltration membranes (UF), microfiltration membranes (MF), and nanofiltration membranes (NF). Microfiltration membranes are mainly used in fields such as sewage and wastewater treatment; Ultrafiltration membranes are widely used in the fields of wastewater treatment, reuse, and water purification; Nanofiltration membranes are mainly used in purified water, softened water, deionized water, seawater desalination, and other fields; Reverse osmosis membranes can be applied in fields such as seawater desalination. According to the different membrane materials, water treatment membranes are mainly divided into organic membranes and inorganic membranes. The commonly used membrane materials for organic membranes include cellulose acetate, polysulfone, polyether sulfone, polyethylene, polypropylene, polyacrylonitrile, polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), aromatic polyamide PPTA, and their modified materials. Polyvinylidene fluoride material has good chemical stability, thermal stability, and mechanical strength, and can dissolve in various solvents. It is currently one of the widely used membrane materials. Current Status of Global Water Treatment Membrane Materials Market
In 2020, the global market size of water treatment membrane materials reached $296.757 million, and is expected to reach $3901.93 million by 2027, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.22%. The domestic water treatment membrane market is developing rapidly, with a market size of 846.75 million US dollars in 2020, accounting for approximately 28.53% of the global market. It is expected to reach 1278.98 million US dollars by 2027, and the global market share will reach 32.78%. With the increasing demand for desalination of seawater, softening of brackish water, preparation of ultrapure water, and removal of trace pollutants, the proportion of reverse osmosis membranes in the membrane market has also increased. QYResearch data shows that reverse osmosis membranes account for 54.66%, ultrafiltration membranes account for 26.02%, microfiltration membranes account for 16.14%, and nanofiltration membranes account for 3.18%. In the future, with the increasing demand for sewage resource utilization and deep water treatment, the membrane industry will develop rapidly. The industrial structure of water treatment membranes in China is still unbalanced, with a high degree of localization in the production technology of microfiltration membranes and ultrafiltration membranes, and a self-sufficiency rate of about 85% for products. There is overcapacity in low-end products such as reverse osmosis membranes and nanofiltration membranes, and high-end reverse osmosis membranes for industrial use still rely mainly on imports. The process of technology localization is slow, and the self-sufficiency rate of products is only about 50%. Foreign enterprises occupy the main high-end product market Foreign companies have developed water treatment membrane materials earlier and have more advanced technologies, with the United States, Japan, and other countries being the main players. They almost monopolize the global high-end membrane material market. At present, international giants in membrane materials are mainly composed of Dow Chemical, Nitto Denko, Toray Electric, GE, and other companies, forming the international first tier brand of membrane materials, occupying more than 80% of the global market share. Among them, Dow Chemical in the United States is a leading global supplier and innovative enterprise. In 2017, Dow merged with DuPont, and the two sides merged and reorganized in the field of specialty chemicals and chemical materials (including membranes), further strengthening their strength and becoming an absolute leading enterprise in the field of membrane materials, occupying more than 35% of the global market share. Dow Chemical Company has successively acquired FilmTec from Polaris Research Institute and Zhejiang Oumei Environmental Engineering Co., Ltd., mastering core technologies such as ultrafiltration, membrane bioreactor, and continuous electric desalination in the field of water treatment membranes. Dow Chemical has also expanded from a membrane material manufacturer to a water treatment system manufacturer. Dongli Group, relying on its advanced chemical material technology, has taken the lead in developing high-performance membranes in the world and built the world's earliest factory for mass production of RO membranes. Currently, in addition to RO membranes, Dongli also has a full range of water treatment membranes such as UF membranes, MF membranes, MBR membranes, etc., occupying an important position in the international water treatment membrane market. On June 17, 2021, the Dongli Water Treatment Membrane Project (Phase II) signed a contract in Foshan. China has become the main market for RO membranes, and import substitution is timely At present, high-end water treatment membrane materials in China are dominated by international leading enterprises such as Dow, Dongli, and Nitto Denko, accounting for more than 80% of the market share. Chinese enterprises are led by domestic brands such as Nanfang Huitong and Bishuiyuan, mainly occupying the mid to low end market. In recent years, with the continuous research and development of water treatment membrane technology in China, Chinese enterprises have gradually penetrated from low-end to high-end. At present, the total sales of RO membrane products in the Chinese market account for about 30% -35% of global sales, ranking first in the world in terms of market size. Foreign RO membrane products dominate the market, with Dow Chemical from the United States, Toray from Japan, and Heidelberg holding around 70% of the market share. Domestic RO membrane manufacturers are catching up, such as Guiyang Times Walton. In addition, domestic membrane companies such as Blue Star (Hangzhou), Hunan Qinsen, Shandong Jiuzhang, Hunan Aowei, Bishuiyuan, Sinochem International, and Wanhua Chemical have begun to build and put into operation, entering the RO market. It is expected that the localization rate of domestic RO membranes will improve significantly in the next 3-5 years. Drawing on overseas development experience, China's membrane enterprises still have significant room for improvement in production processes and material research and development, and membrane enterprises will need to continue investing in research and development in the future. Large chemical enterprises have inherent advantages in the research and development of high-end membrane materials. In 2019, Wanhua Chemical invested 510 million yuan to establish a membrane factory project in Wanhua Industrial Park, with a total production capacity of 6.19 million square meters per year, including 3 million square meters per year for RO membranes; NF membrane: 600000 square meters per year; UF membrane: 500000 square meters per year; Hollow fiber membrane: 1 million square meters per year; MF membrane: 1 million square meters per year; Modified separation membrane: 90000 square meters per year. Sinochem International invested approximately 970 million yuan to build a factory with an annual production capacity of 220000 reverse osmosis membranes in Xiangshan Economic Development Zone, Ningbo. conclusion The water treatment membrane market in China is huge, and with the continuous tightening of environmental policies, its market potential is gradually released, and its future prospects are promising. At present, high-end water treatment membrane products in China are mainly occupied by foreign enterprises, while domestic enterprises mainly occupy the mid to low end product field. In the future, with the continuous strengthening of technology research and development, Chinese enterprises are expected to enter the high-end product field, break foreign monopolies, and achieve domestic substitution. |
