National Science and Technology Benefit Project - Demonstration Project of Bitter and Saltwater Desalination for People's Livelihood Science and Technology in Yuepuhu County, Xinjiang

Under the participation and guidance of Academician Qu Jiuhui, the company cooperated with the Ecological Environment Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to undertake the 2012 National Science and Technology Benefiting People's Livelihood Science and Technology Demonstration Project of Bitter and Salty Water Desalination in Yuepuhu County, Xinjiang. In view of the characteristics of the bitter and salty water in Yuepuhu County, a typical bitter and salty water area in southern Xinjiang, the company developed an innovative integrated technology in special areas: solar energy/membrane distillation bitter and salty water desalination device. Membrane distillation uses a low-temperature solar energy collection device to collect solar energy and convert it into thermal energy, fully reaching the required temperature of the membrane distillation system; Optimizing the heat and mass transfer process within the membrane distillation system, based on the design of a multi effect membrane distillation process, has achieved efficient cascade utilization of thermal energy. Compared with traditional desalination processes for brackish water, the vacuum membrane distillation developed has lower energy consumption, no secondary pollution, and greatly reduces operating costs. It can achieve triple benefits of consumption reduction, environmental protection, and cost savings, especially suitable for decentralized and small-scale freshwater supply modes. The developed solar membrane distillation desalination equipment for bitter and salty water is superior to membrane distillation desalination equipment currently promoted in South Korea, the European Union, and other countries in terms of water production scale and quality, as well as operational stability and service life. The water production cost is less than 1.0 yuan/m3, and the water recovery rate is higher than 80%, reaching the international leading level and leading the development direction of membrane distillation technology.

This project has applied for 2 national patents, edited 2 national standards, and constructed a production line for hollow fiber hydrophobic membranes with an annual output of 200000 square meters. The key technology research and application of membrane distillation for desalination of brackish water won the second prize for scientific and technological progress in the autonomous region in 2017; The development and application of specialized membranes for healthy drinking water won the third prize in the 2016 Autonomous Region Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition and the first prize in the Urumqi Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition.