[India] Domestically Produced Membrane-Based Equipment Goes Global to Serve India's Photovoltaic Industry Chain: Qingshui Jinmo Delivers Two Major Systems for Zero Liquid Discharge and Well Water Desalination, Solving the Challenges of High-Salinity, High

Lead-in Summary: Qingdao Qingshui Jinmo High-Tech Co., Ltd. has successfully delivered two major water treatment projects for India's photovoltaic industry. Targeting the wastewater characteristics of high salinity, high fluoride, high silicon, and large fluctuations in water quality and quantity, the projects adopted highly integrated modular membrane-based equipment. The zero liquid discharge project employs a "pretreatment + ultrafiltration + two-stage reverse osmosis + pipe-network reverse osmosis membrane + mechanical vapor recompression evaporation crystallization" ZLD process; the well water desalination system adopts an "ultrafiltration + reverse osmosis" process, steadily producing compliant fresh water.

Project Background: High-Difficulty Wastewater Treatment Demand Driven by India's PV Capacity Expansion

According to a report by China Chemical Industry News, Qingdao Qingshui Jinmo High-Tech Co., Ltd. has recently successfully overcome the challenge of high-salinity wastewater treatment in India's photovoltaic industry, delivering two major systems: zero liquid discharge and well water desalination.

India's photovoltaic manufacturing industry is in a period of rapid expansion, and the PV industry chain—especially the polysilicon, wafer, and cell segments—is a typical industry with high water consumption and high wastewater generation. Its wastewater characteristics are summarized as "high salinity, high fluoride, high silicon, and large fluctuations in water quality and quantity": high salinity originates from dissolved salts produced by acid-base neutralization in the process, high fluoride stems from fluoride-containing waste liquid from wafer cleaning and etching processes, and high silicon is directly related to the entrainment of silicon powder and colloidal silicon.

The superposition of these three characteristics poses a triple challenge to the treatment system:

• High risk of scaling and fouling—calcium, magnesium, silicon, and fluoride tend to form sparingly soluble scale layers on membrane surfaces and evaporator heat exchange surfaces, directly reducing membrane flux and evaporation efficiency;
• Large fluctuations in water quantity and quality—PV production discharges wastewater in stages according to orders and process switching, and the shock load places high demands on the system's buffering and adaptive capacity;
• Limited local conditions—overseas projects face practical constraints such as long cross-border transportation cycles, limited on-site construction conditions, and limited O&M manpower.

Technical Route One: The "Membrane Concentration and Volume Reduction + Evaporation Crystallization" Closed Loop of the Zero Liquid Discharge System

In response to the above water quality characteristics, the zero liquid discharge project adopted a ZLD process route of "pretreatment + ultrafiltration + two-stage reverse osmosis + pipe-network reverse osmosis membrane + mechanical vapor recompression (MVR) evaporation crystallization", and customized multi-stage membrane concentration and volume reduction integrated equipment.

The logic of this process route can be broken down into three tiers:

• Pretreatment + Ultrafiltration (UF)—first removes suspended solids, colloids, and some macromolecular organic matter, providing stable influent conditions for the subsequent membrane system, and serving as the first line of defense against silicon and fluoride scaling;
• Two-stage Reverse Osmosis (RO) + pipe-network reverse osmosis membrane (STRO/DTRO type)—the two-stage RO handles the main desalination, while the pipe-network reverse osmosis membrane further concentrates the high-concentration brine. The pipe-network structure features wide flow channels, fouling resistance, and tolerance to high salt concentrations, making it suitable for operation in the brine stage where conventional spiral-wound membranes struggle;
• Mechanical Vapor Recompression (MVR) evaporation crystallization—after the membrane system concentrates the wastewater to an economically acceptable concentration for evaporation crystallization, MVR completes the final solid-liquid separation, producing crystallized salt and reuse water.

Through gradient filtration, precise desalination, and high-ratio concentration and solidification, the project forms a treatment closed loop of "produced water reuse, brine disposal." This statement highlights the core value of a zero liquid discharge system: it is not simply evaporating water to dryness, but rather recovering the vast majority of water at low cost as reusable produced water through membrane processes, sending only a small amount of high-concentration brine to the energy-intensive evaporation crystallization unit—the more thorough the membrane concentration stage, the lower the investment and operating costs of terminal evaporation.

Technical Route Two: Well Water Desalination System for Brine-Type Water Sources

The second project running in parallel with zero liquid discharge is the well water desalination system. Targeting the water quality characteristics of local brine-type well water, this project customized seawater desalination integrated equipment, adopting an ultrafiltration + reverse osmosis process to steadily produce compliant fresh water, meeting the project's production and domestic water needs.

In some industrial site selection areas in India, underground well water has high mineralization and belongs to brine-type water sources, which cannot be directly used for production or domestic purposes. The desalination integrated equipment centered on "ultrafiltration + reverse osmosis" is essentially a miniaturized desalination system: ultrafiltration ensures that RO influent SDI meets standards, and RO completes desalination, with produced water meeting production and domestic water standards. It complements the zero liquid discharge system—one side addresses "where new water comes from," and the other addresses "where wastewater goes," jointly supporting the plant's water system balance.

Equipment Form: Highly Integrated Modularization Solves Cross-Border Delivery Challenges

A key highlight of this project lies not in the process itself, but in the equipment configuration. The report specifically notes that, in response to difficulties such as overseas cross-border transportation and limited local construction conditions, the project adopted highly integrated modular membrane equipment, which offers advantages such as small footprint, easy installation, stable operation, and low O&M costs. It can adapt to the complex conditions at the project site and ensure efficient project delivery and long-term reliable operation.

The significance of modular equipment for Chinese water treatment companies going global deserves separate emphasis:

• Reduced on-site workload — After integration and commissioning are completed domestically, the equipment is shipped as a whole. On site, only module assembly and pipe connection are required, significantly reducing dependence on local construction capacity and schedule;
• Lower transportation and customs clearance complexity — Modular dimensions are controllable, facilitating containerized transport and enabling shipment in batches to cope with port uncertainties;
• Adaptation to O&M manpower constraints — High integration is usually accompanied by a higher degree of automation, which can reduce continuous reliance on highly skilled on-site O&M personnel. This is directly related to long-term operating cost control for overseas projects.

Industry Observation: Domestic Membrane Equipment Going Global Is Shifting from "Selling Equipment" to "Turnkey Delivery"

From a broader industrial perspective, this delivery reflects two trend-setting changes in Chinese water treatment equipment going global.

The first is going global by following the industrial chain across scenarios. The expansion of India's photovoltaic capacity drives demand across the entire supporting industrial chain. As an indispensable environmental protection component, wastewater treatment goes abroad together with the main industry. Compared with independently bidding for municipal water projects, water treatment companies that go global alongside their home country's manufacturing sector have natural advantages in customer awareness, business communication, and delivery coordination.

The second is that delivery capability is becoming the core competitiveness. As process routes become increasingly homogeneous, "whether the system can be started up on time and stably at the customer site" has instead become the decisive factor. Capabilities such as high integration modularization, standardized design, and remote O&M support are replacing pure "price + parameters" competition.

TIANYI TECH (TIANYI LIMITED) believes that the treatment demand for high-salinity, high-fluoride, and high-silicon wastewater is growing rapidly with the expansion of global photovoltaic, lithium battery, semiconductor, and other industries. The combined route of "membrane concentration and volume reduction + evaporation crystallization" still has significant cost advantages in medium- and high-concentration scenarios. We continuously track engineering practices in global industrial wastewater zero liquid discharge and resource recovery, and provide customers with technical information and consulting services in process route comparison and selection, membrane system integration, and reuse scheme design in the fields of wastewater treatment and reclaimed water reuse, helping customers steadily resolve water system constraints in industrial going-global initiatives and new base construction.

About TIANYI TECH: TIANYI TECH (TIANYI LIMITED) has long focused on frontier developments in global water environment governance and water resource recycling, and is deeply engaged in technical information and industry services in the fields of wastewater treatment and reclaimed water reuse. It is committed to providing customers and industry partners with timely, professional industry observations and solution references.