Why Chinese Ceramic Membranes Are Stealing the Spotlight

Definition of Chinese Ceramic Membrane

Chinese Ceramic Membrane is a membrane prepared by sintering raw materials such as alumina, zirconia, and titania. The walls of Chinese ceramic membrane tubes are densely packed with micropores. The static pressure difference on both sides of the membrane acts as the driving force during filtration. Small molecules (or liquids) pass through the membrane, while large molecules (or solid particles, liquid droplets) are retained by the membrane, thus achieving the separation, concentration, and purification of different components of the feed liquid.

Chinese Ceramic Membrane filtration mechanisms include cross-flow filtration and dead-end filtration. Among these, cross-flow filtration has performance advantages, thus most company products mainly use cross-flow filtration.

Cross-flow filtration refers to the process where the feed liquid flows tangentially over the membrane surface at high speed, with the filtrate (or permeate) passing through the membrane surface under pressure. The circulation of the feed liquid effectively suppresses the issue of filter media clogging commonly found in traditional dead-end filtration methods, ensuring continuous operation of the separation process, improving separation efficiency and accuracy, and effectively reducing the energy consumption in the separation process.

Chinese Ceramic Membrane cross-flow filtration principle contrasts with dead-end filtration: When filtering high-concentration feed liquids, large particles in the feed liquid are easily retained on the membrane surface, causing membrane fouling and a rapid decline in separation efficiency. This method is only suitable for dealing with liquids with very low solid content.

Why Chinese Ceramic Membranes Have Market Potential

Chinese Ceramic Membrane has excellent mechanical properties, chemical resistance, and filtration precision. Invented by Dr. Pall during the Manhattan Project in the 1940s, over 70 years of development have seen its application fields expand from nuclear power, military, and aerospace to civilian domains such as semiconductors, new energy, and biopharmaceuticals. By 2023, the global market size reached 6.83 billion USD. In the Middle East, where water resources are scarce, planned or ongoing desalination project expenditures total up to 39.3 billion USD in 2023. This indicates a potential for long-term rapid expansion. Traditional thermal desalination consumes about 5 kWh per cubic meter, while membrane desalination consumes only 2.5-3 kWh per cubic meter. Under the "Belt and Road" initiative, membrane-based desalination is expected to significantly expand the demand for domestic separation membrane exports.

Why Chinese Ceramic Membranes Are Becoming a Key Focus in the Development of China's Membrane Industry

Membrane materials are widely used for the selective separation of liquids and gases. Inorganic membrane materials have performance advantages. Membranes are materials with selective separation functions. When there are driving forces such as pressure difference, concentration difference, or potential difference on both sides of the membrane, the components of the feed selectively pass through the membrane, achieving separation, grading, concentration, and purification of different liquid or gas components.

From a material perspective, membrane materials are divided into organic membranes and Chinese Ceramic Membranes. Among these, inorganic membranes have excellent properties such as high separation accuracy, chemical stability, acid and alkali resistance, high-temperature resistance, resistance to organic solvents, and high mechanical strength. Chinese Ceramic Membrane shows good applicability in process industry separation in harsh environments such as high temperature and solvent reaction systems, as well as in special water treatment fields like strong corrosiveness, high temperature, high salinity, oil content, and high suspended solids. It has become an important membrane material with significant development prospects, with application fields continuously extending from traditional water treatment to high-value downstream sectors such as semiconductors, food, pharmaceuticals, and new energy.