【Entrepreneur Interview Special: Heavenly Creations】
by the Propaganda Department of the Xiqing District Committee
Xiqing District Rong Media Center
Jointly launched
Interview with Outstanding Entrepreneurs
——Xiqing Media Lounge》
I'll take you through it today
How to break through the bottleneck of post-90s returnee doctors
Build an imported brand
Completely independent intellectual property rights are replaced by localization
Implement the entrepreneurial "membrane" method
Gallop on a new track of advanced materials
Tianjin Hailong Jinyang Material Technology Co., Ltd., located in TFI Xiqingyuan, was established in May 2020 to provide services such as product production and research and development of membrane materials, process design and manufacturing of membrane devices, operation and maintenance of membrane systems for industrial users in the fields of biological fermentation, food and beverage, separation and purification of animal and plant components, industrial and civil water purification. The company has built a production line for separating membrane materials, an analysis laboratory, a membrane device development and commissioning workshop and other areas, and has the R&D and production capacity of membrane materials and membrane processes.
As a post-90s generation, Lv Jianyang, the founder of Tianjin Hailong Jinyang Material Technology Co., Ltd., still has multiple "buffs": Ph.D., senior researcher at Michigan Technological University, director of the 12th Tianjin Biomedical Engineering Society, and 7th professional and technical discipline leader in Xiqing District...... In addition, he has a unique title - director of Shandong Membrane Society. The achievement of this identity is closely related to his contribution to the development of membrane material technology.
Reporter: In fact, we often use the word "membrane" in daily life, but few people know about the application of separation membrane in industry.
Lv Jianyang: There are two types of separation membranes in the industry, water treatment separation membranes and material separation membranes. The main target direction of our products is "material separation", for example, in the fermentation engineering industry, a project needs to extract the active ingredients from the cultivated biological fermentation broth, if the active ingredients and impurities in the solution can be distinguished by some physical and chemical properties, then it can be completed with "separation membrane", which is material separation. In biological reagents, the active ingredients are mostly small molecule proteins, alkaloids, small molecule polysaccharides, etc. Membrane separation is a way to effectively obtain these active components from the culture medium, which can remove macromolecular polysaccharides, impurities and other interfering components in the stock solution. In addition to the biopharmaceutical field, in industrial water treatment, food and beverage, biological fermentation and other industries, there is a need for product separation and purification, which requires the participation of separation membranes. The main principle of membrane separation is "physical sieve", which can be imagined like a "sieve", except that its mesh is very small. The sieved material is often invisible to the naked eye. The main business direction of our company is the R&D and production of material separation membranes in the direction of biomedicine.
Reporter: Since you started your business in 2019, you have led the team to complete the whole process from laboratory research and development to mass production of products, and then to procurement and use by end customers. What breakthroughs have you made in this difficult and challenging journey?
Lv Jianyang: From the perspective of products, the two biggest breakthroughs we have made are the use of innovative film-making materials and processes, which significantly improve the hydrophilicity of the membrane surface on the basis of the performance of traditional membrane materials, so that the membrane has stronger pollution resistance, and can complete the separation and purification of high-viscosity fermentation broth; Second, the pore size and flux of the pore size between the traditional ultrafiltration and the traditional nanofiltration have been successfully developed, which can complete the desalting and decolorization of specific solutions at higher fluxes under relatively mild use conditions.
Reporter: Not only that, but you have also completed the localization of imported brands with completely independent intellectual property rights, have you encountered some difficulties in the process?
Lv Jianyang: Most of the companies that carry out product research and development achieve product breakthroughs in the process of repeated trial and error, and we are no exception. From the selection of film-forming materials, modified materials, to the selection of the appropriate process route, each step is full of trial and error and hitting a wall, and most of the options, whether it is materials or routes, are abandoned in the intermediate experimental development process, and then it is a persistent iteration of adjustments on the selected route. Until the material is really successfully developed, no one can judge for sure that this test can be successfully industrialized. It was through these processes that we were able to come up with the best product in the end.
In the past, material separation membranes, especially those in the direction of biomedicine, were monopolized by imported products, and all users could do was to choose between different importers. The relevant technology is in the hands of foreign enterprises, so we hope to do the same direction of domestic products from the beginning of its establishment, after several years of development and testing, we have a number of self-developed product invention patents, the future will continue to improve, innovation.
Reporter: After completing your PhD overseas, why did you choose to continue your academic research overseas, but chose to return to China to start your own business? And as soon as I returned to China, I chose Xiqing, why?
Lv Jianyang: I am more like to work hard, when I graduated, I was inclined to start a business, at that time, my main task was to choose a place to start a business. To do the real industry, especially the research and development and production of new materials, the domestic policy and environment have obvious advantages. After returning to China, at an exhibition in Beijing, I met our investment promotion office in Jingwu Town, first of all, we introduced the sufficient university resources of Tianjin Xiqing, such as Tianjin Polytechnic University, Tianjin University of Technology and other scientific research forces, and also introduced the excellent business environment of Xiqing.
Reporter: Do you have any ideas or plans for enterprise development and personal development in the next step? At the same time, what are your expectations for the future of TFI West Green Garden?
Lv Jianyang: In the short term, our company has two important plans. The first is to respond to the current zero-emission policy, continue to improve the existing small-hole ultrafiltration membrane product line, on the one hand, expand the product type, and on the other hand, continue to improve the stability of product quality by improving the degree of production automation. Secondly, the company needs to continue to develop products with more separation accuracy on the basis of our existing protein separation membranes and pyrothermic source removal membranes.
This year, while our newly developed customers are gradually stabilizing and the supply chain can be rotated normally, I hope that enterprises will increase their investment in R&D and continue to innovate, and our next long-term goal is to form and cultivate a high-level R&D team.
The leading industries of TFI Xiqing Park are new energy and new materials and intelligent networking, biomedicine and life and health, our company itself belongs to the new materials industry, our customers are mainly biopharmaceutical, and we have corresponding layouts in our TFI Park, Xiqing's good business environment and TFI Park's excellent scientific and technological innovation resources have brought more possibilities for the local transformation of enterprise scientific research achievements, and the agglomeration of industries has also brought development dividends, I hope that the development of TFI Xiqing Park is getting better and better, and I hope that we can make more achievements with the help of the development of TFI Park.