Russia financing Nanostructured Membranes for Water Treatment

Nanowerk reports that RUSNANO (russian nanotechnology initiative) is financing production of nanostructured membranes and separating modules for treating water.

The products to come from this project are membrane plating and membranous roll-fed modules that are used in the process of filtration and reverse osmosis. Participants in the project, which is estimated at 1.92 billion rubles, are RUSNANO, Vladipor, and an outside investor who will provide co-financing. RUSNANO will invest 350 million rubles in equity of the project company and provide it with a loan of 460 million rubles. (30 ruble to one USD. $65 million project.)

The project will be carried out in the city of Vladimir. The production facility is expected to be completed in 2012.

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The project falls within the realm of nanotechnology because of the size of the pores of the membranes. Each membrane type has its own size and all lie in the range of one nm to 100 nm. Membranes hold all that is larger than the size of their pores.

Direct customers for products that emerge from the project are engineering companies that produce units for water purification and sewage treatment for end consumers. There are about 150 domestic and foreign companies working in Russia today that offer engineering services for delivery of membrane equipment, mostly for imported membranes.

Businesses in energy, machine building, chemicals, electronics (together 20 percent) pharmaceuticals and medicine (24 percent), and the food industry (20 percent) have the highest demand for membrane modules. In 2008 the market in Russia for membranes was $225 million; in 2017 it is expected to rise to $645 million. The market for membrane modules for ultrafiltration, nanofiltration, and reverse osmosis will reach more than $238 million, and average annual growth in the market from 2010 through 2017 will exceed 13 percent.