Leading the way and shouldering the heavy responsibility: Shandong's excellent brands in the industrial chain丨A membrane filters out "renewable" lubricating oil
On July 31st, a "magic of oil filtering" was taking place in the exhibition hall of Shandong Fengming Huanyu Environmental Protection Co., Ltd. - by pressing the button of the oil purification equipment lightly, half a cylinder of dark industrial waste oil containing ultra-fine metal particles, oxides, colloids, oil sludge, etc., was instantly transformed into a clear, golden, and translucent "new skin" after passing through a nano-membrane filter.
"How did the impurities in the waste oil disappear in an instant?" Faced with the reporter's confusion, Xiao Ming, the deputy general manager of Shandong Fengming Huanyu Environmental Protection Co., Ltd., didn't rush to answer. Instead, he "levered" open the inner chamber of the equipment and pointed to several half-meter-long multi-purpose nano-sieve purification membrane materials, saying, "Here, this is the core 'prop' that makes the impurities in the waste oil 'disappear instantly'."
According to Xiao Ming, these "membrane materials" utilize the multi-purpose nano-screening purification membrane technology independently developed by Fengming Huanyu. Without adding any chemical agents, this technology can enhance the cleanliness of waste oil from NAS8 level (moderately polluted stage) to NAS3 level (high cleanliness requirement stage) in one go through a single membrane, achieving a cleanliness equivalent to or even higher than that of new lubricating oil, thus realizing the "regeneration" of industrial lubricating oil.
Currently, relying on this "membrane", Fengming Huanyu has become the first enterprise in China to successfully apply and promote membrane separation technology to the field of waste oil separation and purification.
In the Fengming Huanyu workshop, workers are packing and transporting oil purification equipment, preparing to deliver it to customers. Photographed by Sun Dawei, our reporter
How did Fengming Huanyu, founded in 2021, overcome this technical hurdle in just a few years?
In 2016, as the development demands of the steel smelting, petrochemical, tire, and electric power industries continued to increase, the limitations of traditional centrifugal separation technology became increasingly prominent - "extensive" filtration, which sieved out large-particle impurities in industrial waste oil, but also retained small-particle impurities within the equipment. Over time, this led to oil degradation, pipeline corrosion and blockage, increased failure rates, and a significant increase in maintenance pressure and costs.
Facing the "pain points" of the industry, Fengming Huanyu, which specializes in precision filtration, has conceived the idea of developing a technology that not only achieves high-precision filtration but also enables the recycling and regeneration of waste oil, allowing customers to apply it at low cost.
Coincidentally, membrane separation technology, which was just emerging in the field of water treatment at that time, provided a breakthrough idea: introducing this technology into the field of oil purification.
Despite the good idea, the path of research and development was "arduous": at that time, there was no precedent for using membrane separation technology to purify oil products domestically, and although there were enterprises in the international market that mastered relevant technologies, they imposed technological monopolies. To make matters worse, the research and development team tested almost all of the more than 100 types of porous materials available globally based on reference literature and related products, but the filtration effect was still unsatisfactory.
Unable to find ready-made experience models and hindered by technical barriers, Fengming Huanyu, which had repeatedly hit a wall, decided to shift its R&D focus to the forefront - starting from material manufacturing.
Based on a series of exploratory tests in the early stage, Fengming Huanyu further deepened its cooperation with institutions such as Harbin Institute of Technology (Weihai), established a special R&D team, and invested 10% of its annual R&D budget to overcome challenges such as material ratio, homogeneity, high temperature resistance, demulsification, filtration accuracy, and anti-fouling properties. Finally, after nearly five years of unremitting efforts and repeated testing, a new type of membrane material was officially launched in 2021.
"Once the new membrane material was released, it received 'olive branches' from enterprises in the oil filtration industry," Xiao Ming said with a more proud and confident tone. At that time, the filtration precision of mainstream oil purification technology in the market was at the micron level, while Fengming Huanyu's membrane technology had reached the nanometer level, with higher precision and far surpassing similar products.
After achieving success in the first battle, Fengming Huanyu capitalized on the momentum by "striking while the iron is hot". Based on the characteristics and needs of different industries and types of waste oil purification, such as smelting, petroleum, tires, and electricity, they "connected" new material technology with industrial application ports and explored and developed nano-screening purification membrane technology equipment. After being reviewed and appraised by a provincial professional institution, this set of equipment not only filled the domestic gap but also achieved international advanced level in overall technology.
Backed by technology, Fengming Huanyu has stepped onto the "fast track" of development: new products such as high-precision purification systems for lubricating oil, high-precision purification devices for mixer oil, and ultra-clean purification devices for fire-resistant oil have been successively launched. The company has received numerous honors, including major environmental protection technology and equipment encouraged by the state, national patent-intensive products, and the first (set) of technical equipment in Shandong Province. Well-known leading enterprises such as PetroChina, CNOOC, BYD Auto, Linglong Tire, and Hebei Iron and Steel Group have requested cooperation. Fengming Huanyu has rapidly grown into a domestically leading provider of oil and water purification services and equipment, recognized by enterprises both upstream and downstream in the industry chain.
Focusing on niche areas, delving deeper, moving towards the new, and aiming higher, empowering old industries with new technologies, is the development trajectory of Fengming Huanyu, and also reflects the underlying logic of the development of our city's industrial chain.
In recent years, our city has always adhered to the main direction of developing characteristic and advantageous industries. Following the approach of focusing on segmentation and strengthening advantages, we have effectively leveraged the service role of the "specialized, refined, unique, and innovative" enterprise acceleration center. We have regularly conducted coaching activities such as investment and financing, and the transformation of research achievements, supporting enterprises to focus on "filling gaps" and "addressing shortcomings" in key areas of the industrial chain.