Intelligence Drives Resource Circulation, SMax Membrane Technology Shines at Qingdao International Water Conference

Recently, the 20th Qingdao International Water Conference 2025 was grandly held at Qingdao World Expo City. As a leading and influential water industry event in the Asia-Pacific region, the conference gathered more than 500 global industry experts, enterprise leaders and technical elites, focusing on efficient water resource utilization, industrial wastewater recycling, low-carbon water treatment and other key topics to discuss the path of high-quality industrial development. Shanghai SMax Polymer Technology Co., Ltd. made a high-profile appearance with homogeneous ion-exchange membranes, electrodialysis (ED), diffusion dialysis (DD) and complete resource utilization solutions, illuminating the conference with independent innovative membrane technology and demonstrating the strong strength of China’s membrane technology in industrial park resource circulation to the world.

At present, industrial water treatment is accelerating transformation from standard discharge to resource circulation and low-carbon energy saving, while high-salinity wastewater, waste acid recycling and energy coupling utilization have become core industry pain points. In the keynote speech at the conference, the Technical Director of SMax Polymer publicly disclosed the Membrane-Energy-Heat Synergy Technology for the first time to global industry experts. Through the integrated coupling of homogeneous membrane separation, low-energy driving and waste heat recovery, the technology realizes the efficient multi-dimensional recovery of water, salt, acid, alkali and energy in industrial wastewater treatment, increasing resource recovery rate by 40% compared with traditional processes, significantly reducing energy consumption and operation cost, providing a subversive solution for zero liquid discharge (ZLD) and resource circulation in industrial parks.

As a National High-Tech Enterprise and Shanghai Specialized, Refined, Differential & Innovative (SRDI) SME, Shanghai SMax Polymer focuses on the R&D, production and application of homogeneous ion-exchange membranes, with an annual membrane production capacity of 250,000 ㎡. All core membranes and equipment are 100% independently developed with a full localized supply chain. Centering on electrodialysis, diffusion dialysis, bipolar membranes and monovalent/bivalent selective separation membranes, the company has implemented hundreds of benchmark projects in lithium extraction from salt lakes, industrial waste acid recovery, ZLD of high-salinity wastewater, organic desalination for food & medicine, and new energy wastewater recycling, with technical performance reaching international advanced and domestic leading levels.

At this Qingdao International Water Conference, SMax Polymer highlighted its core products including Membrane-Energy-Heat Synergy System, complete ED/DD equipment and customized membrane stacks, and shared typical cases such as power plant desulfurization wastewater treatment, aluminum profile waste acid recovery, salt lake lithium extraction, and amino acid/L-carnitine desalination, attracting numerous domestic and foreign guests to communicate and negotiate deeply. Taking membranes as the core carrier, intelligent control as the means and resource circulation as the goal, SMax membrane technology has successfully realized turning wastewater into resources and waste energy into available energy, helping enterprises reduce costs, improve efficiency, achieve low-carbon green development and comply with regulations.

Bridged by membranes, intelligence drives circulation; empowered by technology, resources flow sustainably. Adhering to the philosophy of independent innovation, technological leadership and full-chain service, SMax Polymer has carried out in-depth industry-university-research cooperation with East China University of Science and Technology and National Salt Lake Center, continuously promoting the iteration of membrane materials and upgrading of water treatment technologies. In the future, the company will continue to take advanced membrane technology as the core, deeply engage in industrial wastewater recycling and energy synergy, provide more efficient, low-carbon and economical resource circulation solutions for global industrial parks, new energy, metallurgy, electric power, food & medicine and other industries, and support global water ecological governance and sustainable development with China’s membrane technology.