The State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) recently announced that “A Method and Device Combined with Bio-ecological Technology for Sewage Purification and Reuse” (Patent Number: ZL200810197242.9) won the 18^th Chinese Excellent Patent Award. Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IHB) is the patentee and WU Zhenbin, Xiao Enrong, He Feng, Cheng Shuiping, et al., are the inventors.   

The patent is an essential authorized invention of our country in the field of water environment engineering. It first proposed a sewage treatment strategy consisting of pretreatment, biological treatment, ecological purification, and reuse, which promotes the development for combined technology of wastewater treatment, water pollution control and remediation in our country. Furthermore, this combination concept was expanded to the fields of photochemical and electrochemical.    

For more than a decade, the technology has been widely used in the treatment of different types of sewage, treatment and reuse of non-point source pollution and contaminated surface water, restoration of urban river, etc. It has been popularized and applied on a large scale, and thus has achieved significant environmental and economic benefits. 

First launched in 1989 by SIPO and the World Intellectual Property Organization, as the nation's top award for patents, the award campaign has helped the development of China's patent, and promoted the nation's economic restructuring. 

Fig. 1 Processes of the Patent Technology