(270b) Trend of Membrane Technology for Water Treatment In Japan

Water shortage is one of the serious environmental problems which must be solved immediately. Membrane technology is widely applied for water treatment and receiving more attention since it is an outstanding process. In Japan, membrane technology has been attracting much attention. Share of Japanese companies in total membrane production in the world is reported to be about 60%. Especially in the RO membrane market, the share is as high as 70%. Thus, Japanese companies are very active in the membrane production field.

     In this situation, Japanese government is eager to support the membrane researches for water treatment. Several projects are now going on. For example, in Core Research for Evolutional Science and Technology (CREST) project, the research area of “Innovative Technology and System for Sustainable Water Use” was selected. The target of this research area is development of innovative technologies for realizing sustainable water management by mitigating water problems intensified by climate change. Many researches about membrane technology for water treatment have been adopted in this program. Another project is “Mega-ton Water System” in Funding Program for World-Leading Innovative R&D on Science and Technology (FIRST Program). The target of this project is development of RO membrane system in the scale of mega-ton/day. The projects about innovative membrane have been started also in New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO).

      In academia, the first membrane center was established in Kobe University in 2007. Now faculty member is 15 and total students number is over 100. The member of companies is mote than 40. One of the main research targets in this membrane center is water treatment by the membrane. Many co-operation projects between the center and the companies have been progressing.