Turn on the faucet and the water you drink will have no odor; put on new clothes and feel the safety and comfort of the fabric; taste a food that has been strictly tested without worrying about additives - behind these daily peace of mind, there is an invisible "invisible guard": the ion chromatograph. This precision instrument, which had been blocked by foreign technology for a long time, has completed its transformation from scratch, from weak to strong, in Laoshan, Qingdao. Today, the core components of chromatographs made in Qingdao are 100% localized, and the products are exported to 87 countries. Recently, reporters visited Qingdao Shenghan Chromatography Technology Co., Ltd. to explore the story of independent innovation in Chinese instruments.
Many people feel that chromatographs are out-of-reach laboratory equipment. In fact, it is closely related to our daily life. Taking tap water as an example, sometimes the water we drink has a faint chlorine or disinfectant smell, which is caused by the hypochlorite ions in the water. How to ensure that the content of such ions is within a safe range? Ion chromatograph is the key equipment to undertake this mission. It is widely deployed in water plants and laboratories, and can conduct qualitative and quantitative detection of various ions in water bodies, ensuring the first line of safety for residents' drinking water.
In the field of solid sample detection, the new generation chromatograph is equipped with a special combustion furnace, which can vaporize solid samples at high temperature and collect the generated gas for ion detection. This technology is widely used in textile, leather processing and other industries. For example, if the fluoride ion content in leather or textiles is too high, it can cause serious harm to the human body. By combining the combustion furnace with the ion chromatograph, the total fluorine content can be accurately detected to ensure the safety of consumer products from the source.
The latest product, liquid chromatography, can detect more complex substances, such as vitamins, proteins and other macromolecules with large particle sizes that are difficult to decompose, and plays an important role in biomedicine, food deep processing and other fields. At the same time, special sugar measuring instruments are also frequently used in the food industry, which can accurately detect glucose, fructose and other ingredients in food, becoming an important part of the food safety defense line. Ion chromatographs play an irreplaceable role in 127 fields such as environmental monitoring, industrial production, medical and health, and public safety, and have become an important scientific and technological support for ensuring people's safety and ecological protection.
From the working principle, during detection, the sample to be tested flows through the chromatographic column together with the eluent. Different ions have different adsorption and retention capabilities in the column, and are thus separated successively. The separated ions enter the detector, are converted into their own exclusive electrical signals, and are transmitted to the computer terminal through the data processing system, ultimately generating clear and accurate detection results. The three core components of chromatography column, suppressor and detector jointly determine the accuracy, stability and sensitivity of instrument detection - they were also the technical barriers that restricted the development of the domestic chromatography industry for a long time.
In the late 1980s, China's first ion chromatograph was converted into production in Laoshan, Qingdao, kicking off the development of the domestic chromatography industry. However, at that time, the global chromatography market was monopolized by overseas brands, and core technologies and key components were in the hands of foreign companies. Local companies are in their infancy, and there is a clear gap between the accuracy and stability of key components and international brands, and technical barriers have become the biggest stumbling block. "We have always adhered to the model of 'supporting research through trade', accumulating funds in the market and constantly polishing product technology." Chen Miao, overseas sales engineer of Qingdao Shenghan Chromatography Technology Co., Ltd., told reporters.
The 2008 Wenchuan earthquake caused large-scale water pollution, and the country urgently requested chromatographs for emergency monitoring of water quality. At the critical moment, domestic chromatographs stepped forward and successfully completed the emergency water quality testing task. This battle fully verified the strength of domestic chromatographs. Since then, with the support of national policies and the unremitting research of the scientific research team, the core components of the chromatograph have gradually achieved independent breakthroughs, and foreign technical blockades have been broken one by one.
The early stages of R&D were beyond imagination. At that time, the company's office, R&D, marketing, and sales were all squeezed into a space of only 120 square meters, and there was no professional standardized laboratory. The R&D personnel adapted to local conditions and transformed the well-ventilated south-facing bathroom into a simple laboratory to conduct intensive research in such an environment. In 2011, the team officially started the research and development of the first domestic chromatographic column. With its tenacity and ingenuity to strive for excellence, it successfully filled the domestic technology gap.
Relying on Laoshan's profound industrial heritage, domestic chromatographs have completed product iterations generation after generation. The early generation chromatographs were bulky in appearance and resembled old-fashioned radios and refrigerators. At that time, the most mature industry in Qingdao was home appliances. As an emerging industry, chromatographs could only borrow supporting resources from home appliances for many casings and general components. After many rounds of product changes, the new generation of products not only has a simple and exquisite appearance, but also achieves modular and exclusive design. The latest chromatograph is manufactured in a fully modular mold, which greatly improves the degree of standardization and detection accuracy. Shenghan's new generation chromatograph is unique in its ingenuity and cleverly integrates Laoshan Taoist culture and modern technology - the heat dissipation vent of the instrument is designed in a Bagua shape, echoing the professional attributes of ion chromatographs in detecting anion and cations, giving domestic instruments unique cultural connotation and technological charm.
The pace of industrialization and internationalization is advancing steadily. In 2010, Shenghan Chromatography achieved its first export and was exported to African water plants, taking a key step for domestic ion chromatography to go global. In just a few years, the export territory has accelerated its expansion. Not long ago, domestic chromatographs were exported to the 87th country. Up to now, Shenghan Chromatography covers Europe, Africa, Asia and other regions, allowing the world to share China's precision testing scientific and technological achievements.
In order to solve the problem of mass production of niche parts for scientific instruments, Shenghan Chromatography and Qingdao Science and Technology Bureau established Qingdao Zhongchuang Scientific Instruments Public R&D Service Platform Co., Ltd. to bring together industry forces to jointly tackle the problem. Precision parts have niche specifications, small demand, and difficulty in mass production. Coordinating R&D and production through the platform not only ensures the supporting needs of local enterprises, but also provides key component support for various instrument manufacturers across the country, improving the layout of the entire industry chain.
Today, Shenghan Chromatograph has ranked first among domestic brands in market share and among the top in the world for 10 consecutive years. From the early days when every core component needed to be imported and only required simple assembly, to now all core components such as pumps and valves, analytical columns, suppressors, and intelligent software are 100% domestically produced - the domestic chromatography industry has completed a gorgeous transformation from being controlled by others to independent R&D and production of the entire chain.
Facing the future, the ion chromatograph industry is accelerating towards automation, intelligence, and AI empowerment. The degree of automation continues to upgrade, automatic samplers, eluent generators and other supporting equipment are becoming increasingly popular, and fully automated intelligent laboratories are becoming a reality. At the same time, artificial intelligence technology is deeply integrated into the detection process - the company continues to accumulate industry databases and develop professional software equipped with AI functions, which can realize intelligent peak identification, automatic peak identification, accurate determination of ion content, and verification of sample detection effectiveness, greatly improving detection efficiency and accuracy. With Laoshan in Qingdao as its starting point, domestic precision instruments are moving towards a broader world stage.
