Gekrun Creek Jinliang: The water market has started from scratch, and its core competitiveness is based on membrane "chips"

At the beginning of 2021, the release of the important document "Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Resource Utilization of Wastewater" further opened up the market space for the wastewater industry. According to E20 Research Institute's calculations, the amount of reclaimed water used in China will reach 18.8 to 26.4 billion tons in 2025. The "Guiding Opinions" clearly point out that the key areas of wastewater resource utilization in China include three aspects: urban domestic sewage, industrial wastewater, and rural sewage.

Under the favorable industry environment of urgent demand and policy support, the market expectations for wastewater reuse treatment and upgrading of old water plant facilities will bring more new growth points to the governance industry. Among the technical barriers involved in the wastewater resource utilization process, membrane technology, as a "national treasure" that promotes the utilization of wastewater resources, has received widespread attention from society and the industry. A large number of environmental technology companies also regard "membrane" as a key focus for market layout. Whether it is central enterprises, state-owned enterprises, or listed companies, they are all increasing their investment in this area. Henan Water Construction Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Henan Water Construction" or "the Group") is one of them.

In 2020, Henan Water Construction Group achieved a revenue of nearly 8 billion yuan. Under the significant impact of industrial cooling and the epidemic, such annual results are quite remarkable. However, in the view of the Group's helmsman, Chairman Ke Jinliang, with the advancement of policies, stricter regulations, and the substantial investment of environmental enterprises, the incremental space in the traditional water market is already very limited. "The Group has been deeply involved in the industry for 30 years, and its comprehensive strength advantage is already very obvious. However, to seek leverage to pry open new blue oceans in the current market environment, we need to continuously innovate and break through."

In 2018, Henan Water Construction established its wholly-owned subsidiary, Ge Run Ke Li Environmental Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Ge Run Ke Li"), to increase investment in MBR technology and application in membrane technology, achieving a major breakthrough in the innovation and manufacturing of new membrane materials. Currently, Ge Run Ke Li, relying on its core membrane products and outstanding equipment manufacturing capabilities, has undertaken several domestic municipal wastewater construction and renovation, village and town wastewater, and water environment comprehensive governance projects, seeking a broader market space for the Group's further high-quality development.

"Technological innovation in the water industry must deeply study the changes and development trends of the industry, as well as the industry's pain points and solutions." During an interview with China Water Network, Chairman Ke Jinliang expressed a clear judgment and understanding of many aspects, including the company's own positioning and future market direction.

In recent years, as China's water market has become relatively stable, with the advancement of policies, stricter regulations, and substantial investment from environmental enterprises, the incremental space in the water market has become very limited. However, in the view of Chairman Ke Jinliang, behind the seemingly "unfavorable" market, there are actually huge new market opportunities. "From the current perspective, the water market is at a critical juncture of transitioning from one stage to another."

　　Chairman Ke Jinliang judges that the scarcity of water resources in China for many years has created an irreversible growth trend in the reclaimed water market. The release of the important document "Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Resource Utilization of Wastewater" at the beginning of 2021 officially marks that China's water market has completely "turned the page" from the stage of wastewater treatment and discharge to a new market centered around reclaimed water reuse, completing the "transformation" process from a stock market of 200 million tons/day of discharge to a reclaimed water reuse market starting from scratch.

　　In this process, the advantages of traditional technologies are gradually disappearing, while membrane technology, as a "national treasure" that promotes the utilization of wastewater resources, has received widespread attention from society and the industry, and MBR technology, with its small footprint, good effluent quality, and strong shock resistance, is becoming increasingly popular. After extensive in-depth research, Chairman Ke Jinliang stated that the current market share of MBR in wastewater treatment is about one-tenth to one-seventh. "This scale still has a lot of room for a single technology."

　　With the support of policies and the market, MBR has become an area where capital is competing to enter. While promoting market development, many problems have also emerged. Chairman Ke Jinliang pointed out that since the service period of water projects generally lasts 20 to 30 years, many problems will gradually manifest during the long operation period. Phenomena such as substandard product quality and blockage during operation are also prevalent in the industry, resulting in frequent contract disputes. The "unease" brought to the market by these problematic products has caused many projects to take detours and has also greatly affected the environmental governance effect.

　　"Under the urgent need of China's water scarcity, and with the trend of continuously improving water treatment standards, China's current wastewater treatment plant discharge standards are no less than those of developed countries, and some are even stricter. How to effectively serve the water reuse market with high-quality technical products and international standards is something the entire industry is considering." In 2018, Henan Water Construction officially established Ge Run Ke Li, positioning it as a technology innovation enterprise in the field of ecological environmental protection that integrates design integration, equipment manufacturing, environmental testing, consulting diagnosis, and smart water services. During the company's establishment, Ge Run Ke Li gathered high-quality resources from universities such as Kyoto University in Japan, Tsinghua University, Nanjing University, South China University of Technology, and Zhengzhou University. Through extensive technical research and under the guidance of an authoritative expert team, Ge Run Ke Li introduced unique MBR technology from Japan, named "GMBR."

　　The core of GMBR technology is the mature AAO process and advanced CPVC material flat membrane modules. By using membrane module mechanical interception to achieve complete separation of HRT and SRT, it simultaneously achieves separation and control of nitrogen removal and phosphorus removal. In 2008, the GMBR pilot test at the Kyoto Membrane Core Factory in Japan was successful, and it has been widely used in municipal and industrial wastewater treatment, especially in the reclaimed water field in Japan.

In 2018, Ge Run Ke Li established a production and manufacturing base in Wuzhi, Henan, undertaking environmental protection equipment manufacturing and technological research and development. Using Industry 4.0 standards, it mass-produces GMBR, including CPVC material flat membrane modules and integrated wastewater treatment equipment. The membrane module capacity can support 1 million m³/d municipal wastewater treatment projects.

　　In fact, from the completion of Ge Run Ke Li's factory construction, it coincided with the epidemic. While overcoming difficulties in resuming work and production, the company also had to take into account development. It is gratifying that in 2021, Ge Run Ke Li, relying on its outstanding product advantages, has successfully applied GMBR products to several municipal wastewater construction and renovation, village and town wastewater, and water environment comprehensive governance projects. During the stable operation of the projects, Chairman Ke Jinliang's confidence has grown stronger: "GMBR products belong to the category of flat membranes, but their unique core advantages determine that it is not a simple flat membrane product."

Membrane elements are like "chips", solving three pain points in the MBR industry

　　The industry has a basic consensus on the advantages of MBR technology, namely, small footprint, good effluent quality, and strong resistance to water quality shock. However, some shortcomings have also been criticized by the industry. "The core competitiveness of GMBR products lies in the membrane elements," Chairman Ke Jinliang pointed out that no matter how the structure and form of the membrane process change, the membrane element is the most basic element, which can be understood as the "chip" in the IT industry. The quality of the membrane element directly represents the production technology level of the entire membrane industry.

　　The membrane elements of GMBR are jointly developed by China and Japan, customized in the Kyoto factory in Japan using "wet immersion casting + dry pore formation", and have inherent advantages in materials and manufacturing processes, solving the three major pain points of the current MBR industry:

　　First, high energy consumption. The industry generally believes that energy consumption has always been considered an obstacle to the further expansion of the MBR market. However, calculations based on the actual operating data of GMBR projects show that the GMBR's electricity consumption per ton of water is as low as 0.2~0.3 kW·h, less than 50% of the industry average.

　　Second, high investment costs. Membrane products have a short lifespan, typically 3-5 years. This leads the industry to generally regard membrane products as "consumables," with high one-time investment and depreciation replacement costs. Therefore, there is an impression that membrane products are "affordable but unaffordable to use."

　　Due to the unique material (CPVC+SE), symmetrical structure, high porosity, uniform pore size, permanent hydrophilicity, high flux, low water resistance, and strong anti-fouling ability of the GMBR membrane components, the GMBR product has achieved a significant breakthrough in terms of service life. Chairman Ke Jinliang introduced that in China, Gerunkeli promises at least 10 years warranty for customers, with a service life of more than 20 years.

　　Third, extremely complex operation and maintenance. In the operation of membrane systems, sludge accumulation and subsequent cleaning and restoration issues have always been one of the important reasons affecting the stable operation of projects. Chairman Ke Jinliang pointed out that the traditional cleaning methods currently used in the industry generally require about 27 days for a 50,000-ton water plant to undergo membrane cleaning, which is a cumbersome and time-consuming process that makes owners "collapse." The process is also expensive in terms of electricity and water consumption. At the same time, the large amount of chemicals used in repeated cleaning processes significantly reduces the performance of the membrane material. It can be said that many membrane products in the industry are not worn out but "washed" out. The "cleaning anxiety" of membrane systems has become the most troublesome problem for customers.

　　Chairman Ke Jinliang introduced that GMBR membrane components do not require frequent cleaning, only twice a year, each time only 120 minutes. More noteworthy is that Gerunkeli's innovative "clean-in-place (CIP)" method allows operation and maintenance personnel to simply click a few mouse buttons in the control room to start the cleaning process, reducing manual operation. This significant breakthrough in operation and maintenance maximizes the continuous and stable operation of the project.

With the exclusively licensed GMBR membrane components, Gerunkeli further perfects its products, including membrane modules, intelligent integrated equipment, and GMBR process packages. These can be widely used in small and medium-sized wastewater treatment, large-scale industrial wastewater treatment, leachate treatment, and rural wastewater treatment. The establishment of these technological advantages provides irreplaceable core competitiveness for the company's future sustainable development.

The Pursuit of Excellence

　　Chairman Ke Jinliang has been working in the "water" engineering field for 30 years. In the ups and downs of the industry, countless companies have entered and quickly exited the field, but very few have truly stood firm. Reflecting on the group's development, Chairman Ke Jinliang stated that the group has worked hand in hand, growing from strength to strength, without ever looking back. With its dedication to the water industry, excellent product and engineering quality, and customer-centric values and service standards, the group has won a good reputation among the industry and customers, ultimately withstanding the impact of industry fluctuations.

　　"I often reflect that the philosophy of doing business and making products is the same. Only by consistently doing one's job well and striving for excellence in products and engineering can one gain the true evaluation of society and the industry over time, allowing the enterprise to go further," Chairman Ke Jinliang emphasized. "The group's quality of 'pursuing excellence' is also the development direction that Gerunkeli will continue to uphold."

　　Regarding the company's future, Chairman Ke Jinliang stated that in terms of technology, Gerunkeli will continue to focus on the water industry, adapting to market changes and demands through innovation and research and development, striving to further improve and enhance its advantageous products in terms of "energy saving and consumption reduction" and "integrated" aspects; in terms of equipment manufacturing, the company will build factories in three to five regions nationwide in the coming years, making the existing technologies and processes replicable industries, achieving a breakthrough in enterprise scale, and meeting market demand with stronger productivity.

　　"Walk the right path, seek mutual benefit, and plan for the long term." No matter how unpredictable the environmental protection industry may be, Chairman Ke Jinliang always has a persistent, passionate, and forward-looking attitude towards this industry. By achieving excellence in focused areas while constantly seeking innovation and breakthroughs, this path will surely lead Henan Water Construction Group to better and longer-term success.

Source: China Water Network

Author: Wang Xin