Recently, the project "Construction of Charge-Induced Biomimetic Polymers and Their Selective Adsorption Mechanism for Low-Concentration Heavy Metals" , submitted by the Water Environment Technology Research Institute of MCC Huatian, was approved as a 2025 China Minmetals Youth Science and Technology Fund Project. The successful approval of this project marks a significant achievement for the R&D team of MCC Huatian's Water Environment Technology Research Institute in actively aligning with the parent company's core research directions. It strongly affirms the innovative capabilities and research potential of MCC Huatian's young scientific researchers in the eyes of China Minmetals. This not only helps enhance the company's core technological competitiveness in the field of industrial wastewater advanced treatment but also provides a valuable platform for cultivating a high-caliber scientific research talent pipeline.
The project addresses the challenge of low-concentration heavy metal pollution in wastewater, a persistent issue in industrial environmental governance. It is led by Dr. Lin Qingyuan from the Technology Center of the Water Environment Technology Research Institute, with a research duration of two years. In the treatment of low-concentration heavy metal wastewater, the presence of coexisting interfering ions at relatively high concentrations presents a critical bottleneck for conventional adsorption technologies, which generally suffer from poor selectivity and low treatment efficiency, making it difficult to achieve precise and effective removal of target heavy metal ions. To directly tackle this technical pain point, the project draws inspiration from the function of plant roots and innovatively proposes a charge-induced strategy. By constructing charged functional groups and characteristic affinity ligands at appropriate densities on polymer chains, a biomimetic polymer material with charge-induced effects will be formed, enabling the rapid migration and targeted capture of low-concentration heavy metal ions in water toward interfacial adsorption sites. Upon successful completion, the research is expected to provide novel theoretical guidance and innovative technical solutions for the advanced purification of heavy metal wastewater.
Looking ahead, the Water Environment Technology Research Institute will steadfastly implement an innovation-driven development strategy. Leveraging the resource platforms of China Minmetals and MCC, it will continue to increase R&D investment in key generic technologies and cutting-edge leading technologies, actively promote the deep integration of industry, academia, research, and application, and accelerate the transformation of scientific and technological achievements into practical productivity. By achieving high-level scientific and technological self-reliance, it will support the company's high-quality development and contribute more MCC Huatian wisdom and solutions to environmental protection.
