Lithium is an important national strategic resource. 80% of China’s Lithium are relying on imports, with the vigorous development of 3C and new energy vehicles, and Lithium has become a “bottleneck” that restricts the new energy industry of China. The membrane separation technology innovation team has solved the key core technical issues of lithium extraction from salt lake brine, completed a series of innovations from theoretical research to industrialization, and added chips to break the international monopoly pattern of lithium resources.

Theoretical Innovation: a new theory of microscopic force of membrane pollution was proposed, and the functional membrane of new functional materials and two-dimensional materials were prepared. The theory of limited channel interface charge was proposed,realizing the precise separation of ions, which was published in the sub journal of the Nature. 

Technical breakthrough:The ultrafiltration membrane suitable for water quality was developed based on micro forces, and the technology of "Efficient Adsorption + Multi-Effect Membrane Separation" was developed. More than 30 invention patents have been authorized, and won the Second Prize Of Innovation Achievements Of China's Industry University Research Cooperation as well as the Gold Medal Of China's "Internet+" Innovation And Entrepreneurship Competition.

Achievement Transformation Mode: A new model of deep integration of industry, academia and research has been formed, which formed a new pattern of "Joint R&D Platform+ incubation of Creative Space + seed/angel funding". More than 30 patented technologies have been rapidly transformed, and nearly 10 incubated enterprises have a total valuation of over 2 billion yuan, with multiple reports from mainstream media such as CCTV.

Industrialization: An industrial platform with annual production of three million square meters of membrane products was transformed from DOYUM; A production base with annual output of 10,000 Ton was built by Gold-in Membrane of Lenghu, and is able to stably produce Lithium carbonate (with a magnesium ration of 1300:1 ) from brine water, the cost of which is only 1/3-1/2 of that of international peers, laying a stable foundation for the development of new energy industry.

Lithium is known as an important energy element driving world progress. There is a significant demand for lithium resources in fields such as energy industry, metal refining and manufacturing, aerospace industry, petroleum industry, and electrical and electronic industry. China has abundant lithium resources in brine, mainly distributed in the salt lake areas of Tibet and Qinghai.

the supply of Lithium carbonate at current stage in China falls short of demand, and a large number of lithium carbonate needs to be imported. Improving the supply structure of lithium resources of China helps to ensure the security of national strategic resource supply.

Membrane separation technology provides a new method for extracting lithium from various types of salt lake brine in China, and also provides a new way for extracting other valuable metals. In order to solve the contradiction between the dispersion of brine resources and the centralized construction of factories, the "Aircraft Carrier" lithium extraction model was proposed, and a portable lithium extraction device based on high-performance adsorbents was developed. The adsorption process was completed on site in salt lakes, and the lithium-rich solution obtained through adsorption will be transported to the factory for analysis and purification. This equipment has high flexibility and can adapt to salt lake areas with remote geographical locations, harsh climate, and no conditions for factory construction. The combination of mobile lithium extraction adsorption vehicles and fixed workshop precision processing further improves the lithium extraction capacity.

Nanofiltration membrane is a kind of functional Semipermeable membrane that allows solvent molecules,  low molecular weight solutes and univalent ions to penetrate and has a very high interception effect on macromolecular organics and high valent ions.

The advantages of the Nanofiltration technology:

High recovery rate in processing, and can achieve resource recycling;

It can remove salt from the products, and reduce ash content to improve purity; 

The equipment structure is compact, with a smaller footprint and lower energy consumption.

Easy to operate and maintain, can automate operations, has good stability.

The concentration and purification process is carried out at room temperature, without phase change or chemical reaction.

Then microelectrodes such as DO、ORP、pH、NH4+、NO2−、NO3−、PO43- and N2O have been dependently developed by the team.

The team has independently developed a microelectrode testing system and platform, to which 9 national patents including 4 invention patents were authorized;

The micro characteristics of in situ biological activity and mass transfer and degradation of substances within sludge groups were studied based on microelectrode technology, revealing the micro reaction laws, more than 40 invention papers were published, including more than 20 papers in SCI and EI journals, and one Monograph published by Science Press.

Then microelectrodes such as DO、ORP、pH、NH⁴⁺、NO²⁻、NO³⁻、PO₄^3- and N₂O have been dependently developed by the team.

The team has independently developed a microelectrode testing system and platform, to which 9 national patents including 4 invention patents were authorized;

The micro characteristics of in situ biological activity and mass transfer and degradation of substances within sludge groups were studied based on microelectrode technology, revealing the micro reaction laws, more than 40 invention papers were published, including more than 20 papers in SCI and EI journals, and one Monograph published by Science Press.

AAT Bioquest is an international company dedicated to providing the latest products and technologies for life sciences, drug development, and diagnostic research and development. As a global leader in coloration, fluorescence and Bioluminescence, AAT Bioquest has successfully designed, developed and produced a variety of high-performance fluorescent labeling and luminous probe products that meet the market demand, especially the research and development of probes related to protein and nucleic acid in living cells, which has been used in biochemistry, immunology, cell biology Scientists and researchers in fields such as molecular biology and environmental testing have provided faster and more accurate detection methods.

Rhamnolipids are a class of major biosurfactants. They not only have the functions of emulsification, solubilization, and reduction of surface (interfacial) tension, but also have low toxicity and are easy to be biodegradable. They have great application potential in many fields such as oil exploitation, medicine, food, daily chemicals, and environmental protection. The domestic microbial surfactant industry is still in its infancy and has enormous development space.

This innovative oxidation ditch wastewater biological treatment technology independently controls the concentration of dissolved oxygen (DO) and internal circulation flow rate in the reaction ditch, constructs a dissolved oxygen gradient in the reactor, forms a good and stable aerobic and anaerobic zone, and obtains ultra-high biological nitrogen removal capacity, achieving long-term stable and efficient biological nitrogen removal of wastewater.

The aeration rate in the aerobic zone can be automatically adjusted to flexibly respond to changes in various influent conditions based on the different influent pollution loads under different conditions. By automatically optimizing the aeration rate, the energy consumption of sewage treatment can be significantly reduced.

This technology has been recognized by the Japan Sewage Works Association as a Class I innovative technology for promotion and was awarded the Japan Water Environment Society Annual Science and Technology Award of 2015.

Anaerobic baffled membrane bioreactor is a new type of water treatment device that couples anaerobic baffled reactor with membrane bioreactor. After pre-treatment by the baffle system, the sewage enters the membrane bioreactor unit for advanced treatment, resulting in good effluent quality and slight membrane pollution. The advantages of this technology are as follows:

The process of sewage in the baffle system is long and the pre-treatment effect is better;

The membrane separation unit can adopt anaerobic/aerobic treatment as needed;

The anaerobic/aerobic membrane separation process has slight membrane fouling and good effluent quality;

The anaerobic pre-treatment process has the ability to recover energy.

For potential biomass resources such as sludge, straw, and algae, achieving their resource and energy utilization is the goal of comprehensive utilization. By using catalytic pyrolysis-gasification technology, clean and green combustible gas can be obtained.

The research and development of pre-treatment methods, catalytic modes, and efficient pyrolysis gasification catalysts have become important topics for converting biomass into high-quality hydrogen rich gas.

Used for treating antibiotic wastewater - a photo induced reaction under the action of a photo-catalyst.

The technology of enrichment of rubidium from brine with membrane has the characteristics of high efficiency, low pollution, and low energy consumption, which is of great significance for the development of rubidium resources in China.The total reserves of rubidium worldwide are approximately 10.77 million tons, of which more than 92% exist in salt lake brine. It is expected that the global rubidium production growth rate will be above 2.20% in the future, while the demand growth rate will reach 7.90%.

Rubidium,known as the "space age metal", has shown it’s bright prospects in satellite and rocket ion propulsion engines. It carries 500g of cesium and rubidium ions to propel spacecraft, with a range 150 times that of traditional fuel and a running speed of 16 × 104km/h.