German specialty chemicals company Evonik Industries is collaborating with the SINOPEC Beijing Research Institute of the Chemical Industry (BRICI) on building a process development laboratory for Organic Solvent Nanofiltration (OSN) membrane technology.

Leveraging its technical expertise and comprehensive OSN product portfolio, Evonik said it will act jointly with BRICI to develop new processes for SINOPEC. The new joint lab will focus on the petrochemical industry to open up substantial markets in both China and the entire Asian region for OSN applications.

“Starting up the OSN lab is a consistent step in our growth plan for the attractive membrane business,” said Dominic Stoerkle, vice president & general manager of the High Performance Polymers Business Line Asia Pacific at Evonik. Through the close partnership with BRICI and the German company’s active participation in the open platform, “we anticipate further growth to result from the new joint OSN laboratory," he said.

Professor Li Hongbo, president of the Yanshan Branch of SINOPEC BRICI, said the joint OSN laboratory is well aligned with his group’ regional innovation strategy and future development vision.  With Evonik’s support, he added, “we will also build up a pilot plant unit in one of Sinopec’s production sites as an OSN reference plant.”.

Evonik initiated the first contact with BRICI in 2015. In the following year, a series of laboratory-scale tests for a lube oil dewaxing application was conducted. The joint OSN laboratory was officially established in early 2017, when Evonik’s first (lab-scale) equipment arrived at SINOPEC BRICI.