Mission Imposed on Sumitomo Electric

CTCI decided to use POREFLON™. But this did not necessarily mean that CPC decided to introduce water treatment facilities because a track record was important for a large-scale project. No proven track record was available for POREFLON™ modules. It was only the data in the pilot test that was available. There was a further obstacle. At that point of time, the end-user, CPC, had already adopted specifications based on the membranes of a major U.S. company. To clear this obstacle, we contacted a doctoral research fellow who had authority to make a decision on membranes. The data in the pilot test was presented to stress the advantage of the characteristics of POREFLON™. “Our fulfillment of the specifications made it possible to bid on the project.” (Jeff, aforementioned) In the summer of 2012, the receipt of order was confirmed as a result of the bid, which was followed by a whoop of delight by Zhang, who had worked hard at the frontline, and all of the staff. Winning the bid against a major U.S. company meant a big breakthrough in the water treatment market in Taiwan. In addition, receiving an order for a project of highly challenging treatment of industrial wastewater containing oil of as much as 6,000 m3 per day could be a high-level actual achievement, which boosted subsequent sales expansion activities. This was an epoch-making large order receipt for the Sumitomo Electric Group water treatment business.

The water treatment facilities that adopted POREFLON™ modules have been operating stably to date but the treatment performance was gradually decreasing due to dirt accumulated on the surface of the membranes during the four years after starting operation. Even though periodic cleaning has been performed, it makes a difference what kind of chemicals are used. POREFLON™ can stand strong acid chemicals. However, it was difficult to use such chemicals for the facilities of CPC, which were designed in accordance with the the major U.S. company’s standard. In other words, one of the factors that decreased the treatment performance due to clogging was the fact that only mild acid chemicals could be used for cleaning due to the limitations of the facilities of CPC. Accordingly, we started up a new maintenance business in 2017 whereby membranes were cleaned by strong acid chemicals outside of the facilities. Referring to the series of these initiatives, Mr. Shun Fa Huang, Executive Manager, Petrochemical Business Div. of CPC said,

Mr. Kuen-Song Pan, Head of Sulfolane Unit, and Mr. Detsai Wen, Engineer, also unanimously said, “We rely upon and place expectations on the capability and expertise of the Sumitomo Electric Group.” After steadily receiving high evaluations, at the end of 2017, additional orders were received for membrane modules in response to the increase in the amount of wastewater treated by CPC. We also received an inquiry for a new project at another plant of CPC.

The Sumitomo Electric Group announced the technical achievements and results accumulated at CPC in the conference of a water treatment-related academic association in North America. An inquiry was received on this occasion and subsequently orders were received from oil refinery and food-processing companies in the U.S. Modules were delivered to them and finally POREFLON™ modules successfully entered the U.S. market. Furthermore, a project to introduce our modules to large-scale sewage treatment facilities is ongoing also in Taiwan backed by our achievements at CPC. As done during the period of introduction to CPC, pilot tests are being performed at several sites. The sales expansion strategy is also entering a new phase. “Conventionally, our business was marketing stand-alone POREFLON™ modules. In the future, however, in order to further expand our business, it is important to access the final market where product features can be fully exploited as well as build a proactive business model. We will develop our business by narrowing down regions and providing total system and service solutions with membrane modules incorporated into them. We will promote our business at a higher level.” (Morita, aforementioned)

Our water treatment business in Taiwan is sure to make a significant leap forward triggered by the CPC project.