A grand ground-breaking ceremony for a seawater desalination industrial base was held in Hangzhou on March 22, 2011, coinciding with World Water Day.

This base, funded by a more than 650 million yuan investment by the SINOCHEM Corp, will be located in Qianjiang Economic Development Zone, Hangzhou. Upon completion in two years time, the base will cover more than 100 thousand square meters, will be furnished with the most advanced seawater desalination techniques, and will be able to carry out processes such as reverse osmosis membrane production, nanofiltration membrane production and desalination & water treatment production.

With the help of the Hangzhou Water Treatment Technology Center, a pioneer in domestic seawater desalination and water treatment technologies, the base is expected to top China’s seawater desalination companies within 5-10 years, and produce an annual output of over 10 billion yuan,

Sinochem Corporation, founded in 1950, is China's largest trading company and its first multinational conglomerate. Sinochem deals primarily in the distribution of petrochemicals, but it also works in rubber, plastics, and agrochemicals. It operates more than 100 subsidiaries in China and abroad in industries ranging from petroleum trading to real estate.

By Xie Fang & Wang Guangming