China has become one of the fastest-growing regions in the global seawater desalination market. It is expected that China's daily seawater desalination capacity will increase to 1.5 million to 2 million tons by 2015. The investment scale of s
eawater desalination in China is expected to reach about 20 billion yuan in the next five years. China's seawater desalination projects have ushered in a great development opportunity, attracting enterprises from countries and regions such as the United States, Japan, and Israel to seek business opportunities in China. At the 2011 Qingdao International Conference on Desalination and Water Reuse, experts pointed out that there is still a gap between China's seawater desalination and the international advanced level. Faced with huge market opportunities, it is urgent to accelerate the development of independent seawater desalination technology and industry.
Lack of engineering general contracting capability
Gao Congyi, an academician of the CAE Member, pointed out that there is still a big gap between China's seawater desalination and the world's advanced level, which is mainly reflected in the immature technology of large-scale seawater
desalination projects, the lack of engineering practice in the design, processing, manufacturing, installation, commissioning and operation and maintenance of large-scale seawater desalination devices, and the low integration of key
equipment manufacturing processes.
"You don't have an EPC general contractor in China," said a representative from a Middle Eastern country at a bidding meeting for a seawater desalination project in China. Bai Yu, CEO of Beikong Acoling Seawater Desalination Co., Ltd.,
was very shocked by this. "There is a lack of EPC general contracting capability and experienced operation teams in China. The membranes, pumps, and energy recovery systems purchased are world-class, but it is difficult to integrate a
complete first-class engineering design, resulting in no truly successful project in China." Wang Shuangcheng, General Manager of the Beijing Representative Office of IDE Seawater Desalination Technology Co., Ltd. in Israel, stated that
there is no qualified engineering integrator in China, and there is a lack of project engineering experience, making it difficult to achieve the best configuration and what the best configuration is. Seawater desalination is a large investment
project, and the ability to dilute 1 ton of seawater requires an investment of 80-100 million yuan. Excellent general contractors are crucial for project construction and economic operation.
Independent intellectual property rights only account for 15%
Through the "Eighth Five Year Plan" to "Tenth Five Year Plan" scientific and technological breakthroughs, especially with the support of the "Eleventh Five Year Plan" scientific and technological support plan, China has achieved
multiple technological achievements in seawater desalination technology research, equipment manufacturing, engineering construction, and has built a number of demonstration projects, accumulating experience in engineering design
and operation management. But overall, some core technologies are not yet mastered, and some key equipment still has to rely on imports. According to statistics, more than 60% of China's seawater desalination projects and equipment
currently use foreign technologies and products. The three key technical equipment, energy recovery equipment, reverse osmosis membranes and components, and high-pressure pump reverse osmosis seawater desalination technology,
all rely on imports except for high-pressure pumps.
The application of energy recovery equipment can recover and reuse the pressure energy in high-pressure concentrated seawater, thereby significantly reducing the water production energy consumption and cost of seawater desalination.
It is reported that Israel's Ashclone seawater desalination plant, which is the world's leading desalination plant, produces 330000 tons of fresh water per day. After adopting an energy recovery system, the energy recovery rate reaches 97%,
saving 40% of electricity consumption. Wang Shuangcheng told CCIN reporters that currently, energy recovery equipment is mastered by a few developed countries, and China is still in the research and development stage. All energy
recovery equipment used in reverse osmosis seawater desalination projects relies on imports.
According to Tan Yongwen, Chief Engineer of Hangzhou Water Treatment Center, the desalination rate of reverse osmosis membrane is 99.5% in China and 99.8% in foreign countries; The difference in water content for a single membrane
is about 10%. "The performance is not as good as foreign ones, and domestic membrane products are still not suitable," said several industry insiders. Academician Gao Congyi stated that the membrane for seawater desalination is just
starting to be developed domestically and still needs to go through market tests.
Gao Congyi pointed out that out of the 756 domestic patents related to seawater desalination, only 15% have Chinese independent intellectual property rights, and the situation of independent technology and industrial development is very
severe. Faced with enormous development opportunities and severe competition, the domestic industry urgently needs to improve the localization level of complete sets of seawater desalination equipment, accelerate the improvement of
key equipment manufacturing capabilities, and develop independent seawater desalination technology and industry.
Insufficient level of reuse technology
In terms of utilizing concentrated salt water, some factories discharge it into existing salt fields to produce salt, but most factories do not have such conditions yet; At present, China produces 150000 to 200000 tons of bromine annually,
mainly from underground brine in Laizhou Bay. Extracting bromine from concentrated brine is technically and economically feasible, and the domestic level in this regard is comparable to that of the international level; China's potassium
salt resources are scarce. Currently, the country has independently developed the internationally leading zeolite ion sieve method for extracting potassium chloride from seawater, and has built a 10000 ton scale device; Magnesium extraction
from seawater mainly involves the production of slurry magnesium hydroxide, magnesium chloride, and sulfur magnesium fertilizer. However, there is still a gap between China and foreign countries in the preparation technology of
high-purity magnesium hydroxide.
Seawater desalination is a strategic emerging industry with strong driving force, high technological content, and broad development space. It plays an important role in accelerating the upgrading of traditional industries and the
transformation of development modes. It is estimated that by 2015, the manufacturing output value of seawater desalination plants in China alone will reach nearly 10 billion yuan. If the related output values of desalination project operation,
water supply network construction, etc. are calculated together, the total output value will also increase exponentially. It can be seen that the domestic seawater desalination industry has a bright future, but it is equally difficult to make up
for the gap and catch up. Source: China Chemical Daily
