Empowering Modern Agriculture with Daltonen Membrane Elements: A Technological Innovation for Solving Agricultural Water Crises and Resource Recycling

Published by: Daltonen Membrane

Publication Date: February 28, 2025

Globally, agricultural water use accounts for over 70% of total freshwater consumption, while traditional irrigation efficiency is less than 60%, leading to severe water waste and pollution issues.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, in 2023, approximately 733 million people worldwide faced hunger threats, with 30% of food loss directly related to poor water resource management. China, as a major agricultural country, has only 7% of the world's arable land but needs to feed 20% of the global population, making the agricultural water contradiction particularly prominent. The No. 1 Central Document in 2024 explicitly proposed "promoting the industrialization of biobreeding" and "expanding the application scenarios of smart agriculture technology," listing water-saving and efficiency enhancement as well as technology empowerment as core tasks of agricultural modernization.

At the same time, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs officially promulgated the "National Smart Agriculture Action Plan (2024–2028)," which significantly promoted the development of smart agriculture. Industrial membrane separation technology (including reverse osmosis membranes, nanofiltration membranes, ultrafiltration membranes, and other membrane elements) has become a key technology for solving agricultural water crises and promoting resource recycling due to its high separation efficiency and precise filtration characteristics.

According to the market research company's "Agricultural Water Treatment Market Analysis Report" (2023), the global agricultural water treatment market is expected to reach $16 billion by 2030, with an average annual growth rate of about 9%. In China, with the acceleration of the agricultural modernization process, improving the utilization rate of water resources has become an important national development strategy. The Chinese government clearly proposed in the "14th Five-Year Plan" to strengthen the conservation and management of agricultural water resources and support the research and development and application of agricultural irrigation and wastewater reuse technologies, providing a huge market space for the promotion of membrane technology.

In addition, in some developing countries abroad, such as India, Brazil, and African regions, agricultural water problems are also becoming increasingly severe. The introduction of membrane technology can provide sustainable water resource management solutions for these countries and is expected to become an important direction for future agricultural development.

Improving the Quality and Efficiency of Agricultural Irrigation Water: From Saline-Alkali Water to the "Source of Life"

Saline-alkali water refers to water containing higher concentrations of dissolved salts and alkaline substances. About one-third of the world's agricultural land is affected by salinization, especially in the Middle East, North Africa, India, and some parts of China.

The use of saline-alkali water in agricultural irrigation can lead to soil salinization, reducing the soil's permeability and fertility, thereby affecting crop growth and yield. Specifically, water with high salt content can cause an imbalance in the osmotic pressure of crop root systems, inhibiting the absorption of water and nutrients, and in severe cases, even causing crop death.

When seawater or groundwater with high sodium salt content is used for irrigation, sodium ions in the soil will replace calcium ions in the soil, making the soil loose and infertile. This not only affects crop growth but also exacerbates water waste.

Reverse osmosis membrane is an efficient water treatment technology, especially suitable for removing dissolved salts from water. In the treatment of saline-alkali water, the RO membrane can effectively remove dissolved salts (such as sodium chloride, sodium sulfate, etc.) as well as bacteria, viruses, and organic pollutants from the water through the action of a semipermeable membrane, transforming the water quality from high-salt saline-alkali water to low-salt or even freshwater. This process not only improves the quality of irrigation water but also prevents the deterioration of soil salinization.

In the Middle East and North Africa, reverse osmosis membrane technology has been widely used in seawater desalination projects and has successfully transformed high-salinity seawater into water suitable for agricultural irrigation. According to statistics from the International Water Association (IWA), reverse osmosis membrane technology has successfully removed over 99% of the salt content in agricultural irrigation water treatment in these regions, providing valuable "water of life" for crops.

Agricultural Wastewater Recycling: From Pollutant Source to Resource Reservoir

With the continuous expansion of global agricultural production and the widespread use of agricultural chemicals (such as fertilizers and pesticides), the pollution problem of agricultural wastewater is becoming increasingly serious. Agricultural wastewater not only includes drainage from irrigation, livestock wastewater, pesticide residue water, and other sources but also contains high concentrations of organic matter, heavy metals, suspended solids, bacteria, and other pollutants.

The sources of agricultural wastewater are extensive, mainly divided into the following categories:

- Irrigation drainage: including drainage from farmland, the use of groundwater and surface water, and the loss of water after irrigation.

- Livestock wastewater: from the agricultural livestock industry, especially wastewater generated during livestock breeding, containing high concentrations of organic matter, nitrogen and phosphorus compounds, and bacteria.

- Pesticide and fertilizer residue water: the use of pesticides and fertilizers and their residues in the fields, polluting water bodies.

- Organic wastewater from farmland: including organic residues, plant waste, and other substances carried away by water flow from farmland.

These wastewaters often contain a large amount of organic pollutants, heavy metals, nutrients, and pathogenic microorganisms. Direct discharge can cause water pollution, soil degradation, and ecological destruction.

Daltonen reverse osmosis membrane elements have extremely high separation precision and can remove dissolved salts, organic matter, heavy metals, bacteria, viruses, and other substances from water, especially suitable for the treatment of highly polluted water. In agricultural wastewater treatment, RO membranes can not only remove salts from water but also effectively remove harmful substances such as pesticide residues and pathogenic microorganisms, providing clean and safe water sources for agricultural irrigation.

In agricultural irrigation projects in North Africa, Daltonen RO membrane technology has been widely used in the desalination treatment of seawater and saline-alkali water, successfully transforming high-salinity water sources into water quality suitable for irrigation, greatly improving the availability of water resources and the stability of agricultural production.

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According to the "Water Resource Management Report" (2023), about 30% of global agricultural water resources come from wastewater reuse, and some developing countries have effectively solved the problem of agricultural water shortage by introducing membrane technology. Especially in arid areas, the reuse of agricultural wastewater has become a key to alleviating water crises and improving agricultural productivity.

In multiple wastewater reuse projects, Daltonen membranes have successfully transformed highly concentrated agricultural wastewater into clear water that meets irrigation standards through the combination of various membrane technologies, achieving efficient recycling of water resources.

Membrane elements are not only tools for water treatment but also strategic fulcrums for sustainable agricultural development. From saline-alkali land management to circular agriculture, from precision irrigation to pollution control, membrane technology is reconstructing the resource logic of agricultural production with "molecular-level" separation precision. With the deep integration of material science and digital technology, Daltonen membrane elements will promote the transformation of agriculture from "resource-consuming" to "technology-intensive," providing core momentum for global food security and ecological balance.

Data sources: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, China Membrane Industry Association, interpretation of the No. 1 Central Document, and enterprise field research