Some Wrong Beliefs About the Membrane

Since our readers right now are having ideas of the factors that affect the performance of the membrane, I just want to discuss some wrong beliefs about the membrane per se.

First, some are saying that Hydronautics membranes made in China have lesser quality than counterparts made in Japan or USA. Most of the end users had the wrong impressions of the products made in China.

We have to consider the fact that Nitto Denko, manufacturer of Hydranautics is a Japanese company, and had a manufacturing plant in Japan, USA and China.

With regards to quality, then all these plants are under the supervision of Nitto Denko so I do not see any variations when it comes to the general quality in terms of performance.

The reason for the price difference is due to freight, handling and taxes. Even labor in China is cheaper, so the cost of China made Hydranautics membranes are really cheaper compared to USA and Japanese made.

When we talk of quality, regardless of its point of origin, should be the same.

Second, Filmtech membranes on the other hand are all manufactured in USA except for HRLE which is made in China, but DOW, the manufacturer of Filmtech have plans of transferring their production in China.

Third, CSM membranes are all made in Korea, when talking of technologies, they are far more superior to ours, and CSM brands have gained reputations in the world market.

Fourth, Osmonics membranes are also US brand but I do not know if they already have the manufacturing plant here in ASIA, I am not familiar with operations of GE when it comes to their production sites.

Fifth, other brands not mentioned, as long as they have the test protocol written in the brochure to prove their claims, then we can conclude that qualities are competitive.

The point is that, regardless of any membrane brands, as long as you know its characteristics and applications and as long as the system design is right then, we can say that all membranes would function according to its purpose.

Sad to say, nowadays, most of the membrane failures are believed to cause by its poor quality. Although we cannot discount the fact that there are some factory defects issue, but that would be ruled out upon assessment of the systems design and membrane performance.

I just hope that someday, all concerned will all be enlightened with the right concepts of filtration and purification.

- Orly Shanghai