Overview Of Membrane Separation Technology History

Scientific research on membranes has been a matter of recent decades. The history of its development is roughly: microporous filtration in the 1930s; dialysis in the 1940s; electrodialysis in the 1950s; reverse osmosis in the 1960s; ultrafiltration and liquid membranes in the 1970s; gas separation in the 1980s; and pervaporation in the 1990s. In addition, other new membrane-based separation processes, as well as integrated processes of membrane separation and other separation processes, are increasingly being valued and developed.

China's membrane science and technology began in 1958 with the study of ion exchange membranes. In the 1960s, it studied reverse osmosis membranes. It organized the national desalination campaign, which greatly promoted the development of membrane science and technology in China. In the 1970s, reverse osmosis was developed. Devices such as ultrafiltration, microfiltration, and electrodialysis were subsequently put into industrial applications. In addition to the development of liquid separation in the 1980s, gas membrane separation and pervaporation have also entered the development and research stages, and some have been industrially applied or built pilot plants, and other new technologies are being continuously researched and developed.


As a new type of separation unit operation process, membrane separation has shown its strong vitality and competitiveness in technological progress, product structure adjustment, energy conservation and pollution control after 30 years of development. Today, membrane separation has evolved into an industrially efficient, energy-efficient separation process and advanced unit operations.

Microfiltration, ultrafiltration, reverse osmosis, nanofiltration, dialysis, electroosmosis, gas separation, pervaporation, and inorganic membranes, which have been matured and continuously developed, are widely used in petroleum, chemical, environmental protection, energy, and electronics and other industries. And it has produced obvious economic and social benefits. However, at present, the development of membrane technology has been restricted by several aspects: one is the price of membrane products; the other is membrane fouling; and the other is membrane performance. If the problems in these aspects can be better solved, membrane separation technology will play a more important role in the national economy, especially it will play an important strategic role in industrial technology transformation in the 21st century. It will play an irreplaceable role in the history of the development of human society.


JIANGSU JIUWU HI-TECH CO. LTD. (Referred to as “JIUWU HI-TECH”) was founded in 1997. In 2017, JIUWU HI-TECH was listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange (stock code: 300631). They have become the largest ceramic membrane manufacturer in the World.