Ceramic Membranes for High-Quality Drinking Water

On 1 June 2026, the Regulations on Water Supply promulgated by State Council Decree No. 831 came into force, marking a new stage for China's water supply industry of full-chain supervision "from source to tap" and equalized urban-rural water supply development. The new regulation explicitly sets out the core requirement to "continuously strengthen water supply safety guarantee capacity and promote equalization of water supply services", defining a clear upgrade direction for water treatment technology innovation.

As a pioneering enterprise of ceramic membrane technology in China, Jiuwu Hi-Tech has devoted nearly 30 years to the water treatment field. With its independently developed core ceramic membrane technology matrix, it precisely matches the requirements of the new regulation, providing full-scenario solutions for high-quality urban and rural water supply.

Three Major Pain Points in Today's Water Supply Industry

The new Regulations on Water Supply require that supplied water quality comply with the latest edition of the Standards for Drinking Water Quality, while encouraging technology upgrades and facility renewal. However, three pain points widely existing in China's water supply industry remain the core bottlenecks constraining the implementation of high-quality water supply:

1. Conventional treatment processes have capability gaps

Most water plants in China still use first- and second-generation conventional processes of "coagulation - sedimentation - filtration - disinfection". Conventional sand filtration is difficult to effectively intercept tiny algae and viruses, and has insufficient capacity to remove disinfection by-products, posing water quality safety risks.

2. Retrofitting ageing water plants faces implementation difficulties

A large number of early-built urban water plants have tight land use, ageing facilities and outdated processes. Conventional capacity expansion requires new structures such as sedimentation tanks and filter basins, with high investment and long cycles, and is difficult to implement due to site constraints, making it hard to meet the new requirement to "renew and upgrade ageing and disrepair facilities".

3. Rural water supply has high O&M costs and poor stability

For the first time, the new regulation brings large-scale rural water supply under national supervision, requiring "same source, same network, same quality". However, rural water plants are small in scale with insufficient professional staff; conventional filter cartridges and organic membrane consumables require frequent replacement and carry high O&M costs, and are prone to microplastic leaching and membrane fouling and clogging, making long-term stable operation difficult.

How Does Third-Generation Drinking Water Purification Solve This?

In response to industry pain points, Jiuwu Hi-Tech has built a third-generation drinking water purification process centred on ceramic membranes, flexibly adapting to different scenarios to form a short-flow, high-standard water purification system.

Urban new-build and ageing plant upgrading

Adopting the short-flow process of "flocculation and sedimentation + ceramic membrane filtration + disinfection", the sand filter and activated carbon filter are eliminated, simplifying the flow by more than 40%.

Ceramic membrane filtration precision covers 0.03-0.1 micron, efficiently intercepting particles, bacteria, viruses, algae and microplastics, with a microbial removal rate of 99.99% and outlet turbidity steadily controlled below 0.05 NTU, far better than the national standard requirement of 1.0 NTU.

For high-algae and micro-polluted water sources, combined processes of "ozone + ceramic membrane" and "ceramic membrane + biological activated carbon" can be added, providing a double barrier for biological and chemical safety.

Rural water supply scenarios

Jiuwu Hi-Tech offers 100-300 m³/d ceramic membrane integrated equipment suitable for villages of 500-3,000 people, with modular design, easy installation, and stable operation without professional staff.

The core is the independently developed high-packing-density column-type ceramic membrane module, sintered at high temperature from high-strength α-Al₂O₃ with a content as high as 99%. As an inorganic inert material, it is not degraded by oxidation from chlorine or ozone and carries no risk of microplastic or PFAS leaching; channel diameter can be flexibly adjusted between 2 and 4 mm, giving stronger adaptability to high-algae, high-turbidity and seasonally fluctuating water quality, with less clogging and far greater stability than conventional filter cartridges and organic membranes.

Implementation Results of Ageing Urban Water Plant Upgrading

Jiuwu Hi-Tech's ceramic membrane technology has been verified in many types of water supply projects across China. The 6,000 m³/d water plant project on Qushan Island, Zhoushan, Zhejiang, is a benchmark for upgrading an ageing island water plant.

Case: Qushan Island 6,000 m³/d water plant, Zhoushan, Zhejiang

The original plant used conventional sand filtration; facing high-algae, high-salt-mist water sources on the island, outlet water quality fluctuated greatly and struggled to meet the new national standard. After upgrading to high-packing-density column-type ceramic membranes, outlet turbidity is steadily controlled at 0.018 NTU, fully meeting the core requirement of "guaranteeing drinking water safety"; no new civil structures were needed, and the retrofit was completed within the existing building, with investment cost 30% lower than conventional solutions. The site has since become a "water quality science popularization check-in point" opened by the local water authority to the public.

Successful Practice in Township and Rural Water Supply

Addressing the pain points of tight land use and insufficient O&M staff in townships, the project adopted a short-flow modular process of "flocculation reaction + ceramic membrane":

Highlights of Results

• Only 3 months from construction to water supply, with the construction period shortened by 40%

• Footprint reduced by 40%

• The plant can operate unattended, perfectly matching the township need for "low investment, easy O&M"

This provides a replicable lightweight solution for upgrading large-scale rural water supply. To date, Jiuwu Hi-Tech ceramic membrane systems have been implemented in multiple urban water plants and rural water supply projects, from upgrading large urban plants to intelligent upgrading in townships, validating technical reliability with solid results.

The implementation of the new Regulations on Water Supply sets clear goals for high-quality development of the water supply industry and opens broader space for innovative processes such as membrane technology. Jiuwu Hi-Tech will continue to deepen ceramic membrane technology innovation, using "membrane power" to solve industry pain points, helping water supply enterprises across regions achieve process upgrading and water quality improvement, accelerating the realization of the urban-rural water supply goals of "same source, same network, same quality, same service", and building a solid technical barrier for drinking water safety for millions of households.