"Focusing on the research and development of high-performance nano-composite thin film materials, 'Puxi Environmental Protection' has completed tens of millions of yuan in Series A financing | 36Kr exclusive."
Author | Lin Qingqing
Editor | Yuan Silai
36Kr has learned that "Puxi Environmental Protection", a developer of selectively separated nanocomposite films, has recently completed its Series A financing, with an amount of several million yuan. This round of financing is led by YongSheng Capital, with Suzhou Science and Technology Innovation Fund participating. QiChen Capital serves as the financial advisor for this round of financing. The investment funds will be mainly used for the construction of new production lines and factories, and the investment in an automated integrated line for cast-coated rolls.
"Puxi Environmental Protection" was established in 2017, focusing on and committed to achieving the research and development and industrialization of the third-generation nanocomposite thin-film high-end reverse osmosis and nanofiltration membrane TFN. It has established and improved the TFN membrane research and development and application platform, providing cost-effective, individually customized high-end separation membrane products and solutions at home and abroad.
The application of membranes in production and life can be seen everywhere. To better understand, a membrane can be imagined as a special net that allows certain things to pass through while blocking others. This kind of net is useful in many fields, such as filtering water, separating gases, or extracting drug components. When we talk about separation membranes, we actually refer to the specific application of this net in separating different substances.
And the so-called high-performance membrane materials are the advanced version of this net. They are more durable, more efficient, able to handle more difficult separation tasks, and have a lower cost of use.
It is a type of material that plays a core role in new and efficient separation technologies. Characterized by energy conservation and environmental friendliness, they are crucial for solving problems such as water resources, energy, and the environment. These materials can be divided into water treatment membranes, special separation membranes, gas separation membranes, etc., according to different application fields, and are widely used in multiple industries such as water treatment, food and beverage, biomedicine, and energy.
In the field of water treatment, it can be divided into microfiltration membranes, ultrafiltration membranes, nanofiltration membranes, and reverse osmosis membranes, etc., which are used for water quality purification and seawater desalination. In the field of special separation, including ceramic membranes, ion exchange membranes, pervaporation membranes, etc., they play a role in industrial separation processes. That is to say, membrane materials are needed whenever water purification, concentration filtration, and separation are involved.
According to the statistics of the Zhongyan Puhua Industrial Institute, the market size of high-performance membrane materials in China has reached 91.2 billion yuan in 2023. China's membrane industry, especially in the fields of reverse osmosis membranes and nanofiltration membranes, is experiencing rapid development. These high-performance membrane materials have attracted much attention due to their important role in key fields such as water treatment, seawater desalination, and industrial water purification. It is expected that the market size of reverse osmosis and nanofiltration membrane materials in China will exceed 20 billion yuan by 2029.
In the past, TFC membranes were mostly used in the market, which were widely applied in processes such as nanofiltration (NF) and reverse osmosis (RO). TFC membranes are generally composed of a non-woven fabric (NWFs) base layer, a porous support layer, and a selective separation layer, and their performance is affected by the membrane structure, physicochemical properties, and the special functions of different layers. However, although TFC membranes occupy an absolute dominant position in the field of water treatment, there are still some technical problems that need to be solved urgently in their practical applications, such as high cost, low flux, high energy consumption, and certain pollution problems.
At the same time, due to the advantages of an early start and rapid iterations, the medium and high-end membrane material market has long been monopolized by overseas enterprises. Especially in the field of high-performance membrane materials, enterprises in developed countries and regions such as the United States, Japan, and Europe have obvious technical advantages and market positions, and domestic customers have long relied on imports from overseas.
Dr. Lin Xiaofeng, the founder of "Puxi Environmental Protection", introduced that the nanocomposite thin film (Thin-Film Nanocomposite, referred to as TFN membrane) developed by the team, compared with the traditional TFC membrane, its main advantage is that it significantly improves the performance of the membrane through the third-generation process.
This improvement has enhanced the TFN membrane in terms of water treatment efficiency, retention performance, and anti-pollution ability. The technological innovation of the functional layer has increased the water permeability, while also enhancing the hydrophilicity of the membrane, reducing the adhesion of dirt and biological pollution. In addition, the chemical resistance of the TFN membrane has also been improved, especially in terms of acid and alkali resistance and oxidation resistance, which makes the membrane more stable and durable in some specific scenarios, and expands new application scenarios with high added value.
It is understood that currently, the main products of "Puxi Environmental Protection" include five categories of reverse osmosis membranes, nanofiltration membranes, special membranes, customized membranes, and ultrafiltration membranes, with twelve models of reverse osmosis and nanofiltration membranes. These products have performance advantages such as high retention, high flux, anti-pollution, and customized special membranes.
At present, "Puxi Environmental Protection" has established a complete process from membrane sheets to membrane elements to systems, and pioneered the SPEC membrane customized development and application platform. It has served many industry-leading customers such as Sinopec, CATL, Zijin Mining, and has been widely applied in industries such as new energy, semiconductors, petroleum and petrochemicals, biomedicine, seawater desalination, municipal high-quality water supply, and reclaimed water.
Dr. Lin Xiaofeng said, "We believe that the market of this industry will be gradually replaced by domestic products. The product competition in the low-end membrane field in China has become extremely fierce, and everyone has entered the stage of competing on price; while the high-end membrane is still monopolized by overseas companies by more than 80%, and there are still many pain points and difficulties that even imported products cannot solve, such as product performance that is more resistant to high temperatures and more resistant to cleaning. Foreign countries started three or four decades earlier than us. There is still a great opportunity in the medium and high-end membrane market. The next 5 to 10 years are the time window for the rapid development of Chinese membrane brands."
In terms of the team, the founder of "Puxi Environmental Protection", Dr. Lin Xiaofeng, is a membrane expert in the national major talent introduction project and a professor at the School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Suzhou University of Science and Technology. He focuses on the theoretical basis and industrial application of polymer nanoassembly technology. The core team members all have more than 20 years of management, sales, and membrane research and development and application experience.
Investor Views:
Xu Yong, the founding partner of YongSheng Capital, said that energy conservation and environmental protection is a direction that YongSheng Capital has long been concerned about and optimistic about. The Puxi Environmental Protection team, with many years of R & D and industrialization experience in the field of polymer nanocomposite thin films, has broken through a number of key bottleneck technologies and become the only domestic supplier of the third-generation nanocomposite thin-film (TFN) reverse osmosis and nanofiltration membranes. The products have been verified by multiple leading industry customers and formed batch purchases. We expect the company to further increase R & D efforts and expand more industry applications to contribute more "Puxi Power" to the development of the green environmental protection industry.
Chen Xilin, the head of the Investment Department II of Lingjun Venture Capital, said: Puxi has a unique technology platform and has advantages in membrane material customization and production capacity, especially in high-end membrane scenarios such as acid and alkali resistance, high flux, and anti-pollution. The enterprise has broken the dominant position of imported brands in medium and high-end membrane products. At present, Puxi's products have been widely used in multiple industry fields such as new energy batteries, photovoltaics, and lithium extraction from salt lakes, and have gained the trust and repeat purchases of many leading customers, with huge market growth potential. Lingjun Venture Capital highly recognizes the background of the project founder and the team. In the future, Lingjun Venture Capital will integrate various resources to jointly help Puxi develop rapidly.