China has accelerated the pace of developing the desalination industry. It is reported that the largest independent research and development project of seawater desalination in China will officially start in September this year in Huanghua Port, Hebei Province, and will be put into operation in 2013.

This seawater desalination device with a daily output of 25000 tons was developed under the auspices of Guohua Cang Power Company, which won the national award. At present, Guohuacang Power Company supplies 15000 tons of fresh water to the outside world every day, which will reach 40000 tons by then.

The industrial cities in northern China are seriously short of water, while the adjustable water volume of the "South-to-North Water Transfer" is increasingly limited. Far water cannot quench near thirst. Desalination of seawater has become a new choice.

The government has formulated an ambitious plan for this purpose, requiring the construction of a national seawater utilization industrialization base during the "12th Five-Year Plan" period (2011-2015) to achieve the target of 3 million tons per day.

China's seawater desalination technology research started in the 1960s, and has begun to move towards industrialization in the past decade. At present, the industry is mainly concentrated in Tianjin, Hebei, Zhejiang and other places, forming a number of production centers such as Beijiang Power Plant, Dagang Power Plant, Guohuacang Power.

According to statistics, during the "11th Five-Year Plan" period (2006 to 2010), China's desalination capacity increased by nearly 70% annually. The cumulative desalination capacity of the projects that have been built and will be built is about 600000 to 700000 tons per day, of which Tianjin accounts for about one third of the country's total.

Some researchers pointed out that high cost, lack of core technology and unclear industrial model are the "three mountains" hindering the development of China's desalination industry.

For a long time, China is not close to the international advanced level in terms of research and development level, development and manufacturing capacity, and its core technology is mastered by France, Israel and other countries. Wang Shichang, director of the Seawater Desalination and Membrane Technology Research Center of Tianjin University, pointed out that China's equipment capacity and means are only equivalent to the level of technologically advanced countries in the 1980s. And equipment localization, technology and scale are important factors to reduce costs and achieve scale operation.

Relying on the industry-university-research mechanism and the support of a group of domestic experts and scholars, China's seawater desalination industry has made positive progress in technology, with a number of projects and devices designed and developed independently. Low-temperature multi-effect distillation technology has become one of the most advanced in the world. The desalination equipment produced by Tianjin Baocheng Group has been exported to Europe and the Middle East.

The engineer of Guohuacang Power said that with advanced technical support, the cost of domestic desalinated water has been reduced to about 5 yuan per ton, which is lower than the cost of 6.6 yuan per household for the South-to-North Water Diversion Project. According to the survey data of the International Desalination Association in 2009, the cost of several typical desalination plants in the world is about US $0.6 per ton (about 3.82 yuan).

Industry experts believe that the cost of 5 yuan is close to the price of water supply in some cities or the acceptable price for industrial use. "Now, there is the problem of reducing costs, but there is also the problem of understanding and understanding." The cost of seawater desalination cannot be compared with the cost of domestic water, because the desalination water can be directly used for industrial purposes, which is not comparable with the quality of domestic water.

In addition, China is also trying to explore the commercialization and marketization of seawater desalination. Related industry cooperation is one of the solutions. On the one hand, we can implement hydropower co-generation, that is, we can subsidize seawater desalination by increasing income from power generation to alleviate the cost pressure; It can also connect the desalination industry with the petrochemical industry, and use the concentrated seawater produced after desalination to make salt or produce chemical products such as magnesium chloride. At present, this model has been applied in Tianjin.

The Chinese government has also strengthened its support for the desalination industry. In addition to investing in the construction of transmission pipelines, it is also responsible for the procurement of desalination water and providing it to users. "Now we are making water by enterprises and selling it exclusively by the government," said the relevant person in charge of Guohuacang Power Company.

Yang Shangbao, Director of the Water Conservation Division of the Department of Environment and Resources of the National Development and Reform Commission, said recently that China's "spring of seawater desalination has arrived." By 2015, China's seawater desalination and aquaculture capacity will reach 2.2 to 2.6 million tons per day, the utilization ratio of seawater desalination water in island areas will be increased by 50%, and the strategic water resource ratio will be increased by 70%.