Xiamen Firm Breaks Through with Nanoscale Membranes, Bringing Domestic Environmental Equipment to Global Water Treatment

China News Service Fujian reports that Xiamen Jarong Technology Co., Ltd., based in Tong'an District of Xiamen, has built its business around membranes with nanoscale pores, cracking one of the industry's hardest problems: treating refractory high-strength wastewater. From landfill sites to lithium brine extraction, and from being constrained by overseas suppliers to achieving domestic substitution, the company has spent 17 years carving out a path for Chinese environmental equipment.

Tackling the hardest wastewater streams

According to company engineers, the core portfolio consists of two main lines:

• Flat-sheet MBR — deployed mainly at municipal wastewater plants and waste transfer stations, serving as the membrane bioreactor that polishes the wastewater;
• High-pressure DTRO — used for high-concentration, refractory wastewater, with membrane products rated across pressure classes from 90 kg to 120 kg.

Thanks to high pressure tolerance, fouling resistance, corrosion and salt resistance, and rapid modular deployment, this specialty membrane equipment has become a core solution for difficult wastewater streams. Jarong has developed specialty separation membrane technology continuously since 2009, applying it to core products and equipment for high-concentration wastewater. General Manager Jiang Linyu notes that national environmental policy has driven industry growth and allowed the company to gradually become a leader in this niche.

Independent and controllable

In 2022 Jarong listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange ChiNext board, building a full industrial chain spanning R&D, manufacturing, product sales, engineering and construction, and operations and maintenance. With multiple production bases nationwide and more than 100,000 square metres of standardised production space, the company controls the entire chain from membrane sheet and module to complete equipment packages, ending the long-standing technology monopoly of overseas suppliers in high-pressure specialty membranes.

To date the company and its subsidiaries hold 206 granted patents, including 70 invention patents, have been deeply involved in drafting multiple domestic standards for membrane water treatment, and have had several core technologies rated as leading in China. It invests 7% to 8% of annual revenue in R&D, and most of the resulting technologies have reached industrial application. Its equipment has served roughly 700 to 800 landfill and waste-to-energy leachate projects across China, with solutions covering more than 30 provinces and municipalities and exports to Southeast Asia, Europe and South America.

Going global on a green track

In the new-energy sector, the company's specialty membrane separation systems are deeply applied in lithium extraction from salt-lake brine, helping operators recover lithium resources while approaching near-zero liquid discharge. Engineers explain that its endurance membrane is used mainly for brine lithium recovery and rare-metal extraction, achieving lithium purification and recovery through high rejection of calcium and magnesium combined with high lithium permeability. Going forward the company will focus more on upstream lithium-battery hydrometallurgy for lithium, cobalt, nickel and phosphorus, covering salt-lake extraction, hydrometallurgy, and the recovery of waste acid, waste alkali and metals from nickel and cobalt production.