From a single resin to a commercial empire: stories of Purolite, Ecolab, and Nalco

First, betting big on the Chinese market. In 1996, Purolite established a factory in Deqing, Zhejiang Province. At the time, few may have realized that this facility would later become Asia’s largest ion-exchange resin production base—a strategic move that allowed Purolite to fully capitalize on China’s industrialization and urbanization-driven boom in water treatment demand. Second, proactively transforming toward high-end applications. Purolite’s management demonstrated remarkable foresight: recognizing that low-end water treatment resins would inevitably become a saturated, cutthroat market, the company deliberately scaled back from commoditized segments and aggressively pursued high-value sectors—pharmaceuticals, nuclear power, and semiconductors. For instance, it developed advanced adsorption resins for pharmaceutical separation and purification long before domestic alternatives existed, filling a critical technological gap in China. This pivot transformed Purolite from a mere ‘materials supplier’ into a ‘core separation technology provider’—a shift that fundamentally elevated its strategic value and profitability. By around 2020, Purolite had evolved into a highly profitable, technologically dominant player in its niche—holding indispensable, proprietary technologies essential to future-oriented industries such as biopharmaceuticals. Such a company was inevitably destined to attract the attention of major industry conglomerates. Third, the $3.7-billion acquisition: Ecolab’s calculus In 2021, a landmark deal shook the industry: Ecolab acquired Purolite for $3.7 billion in cash. Many people’s first reaction was: Who is Ecolab—and why pay so much? A brief introduction: Ecolab is no newcomer—it is a global leader in water, hygiene, and energy technologies and services. Its cleaning and disinfection solutions are widely deployed across five-star hotels, restaurant chains, and large hospitals worldwide. It also has deep expertise and a strong track record in industrial water treatment. So why did Ecolab acquire Purolite? The rationale is clear: 1. Completing the most critical piece of the technology puzzle. Ecolab’s traditional strengths lie in ‘peripheral water system management’—e.g., preventing scale formation in cooling water, inhibiting boiler corrosion, or controlling microbial growth in piping systems. Leveraging chemical formulations combined with intelligent monitoring (notably its renowned 3D TRASAR™ technology), Ecolab helps customers optimize these systems. Yet one crucial link remained outside its control: core separation and purification. Purolite’s chromatographic and adsorption resins are precisely the ‘bottleneck’ materials used in high-end manufacturing sectors like biopharmaceuticals and semiconductors. Acquiring Purolite enabled Ecolab to step directly into the heart of these high-value production processes—evolving from a ‘back-office service provider’ into a ‘core process partner.’ 2. Building a closed-loop ‘water + process’ ecosystem. Imagine this integrated flow: Ecolab treats incoming water (Nalco’s domain); Purolite’s resins then perform critical purification or target-product separation during actual manufacturing; finally, wastewater returns to Ecolab for reuse or compliant discharge. Once this full loop is operational, customers become deeply embedded within Ecolab’s ecosystem—resulting in exceptionally high stickiness and loyalty. 3. Optimizing business structure and margins. Ecolab’s traditional service model relies on service contracts and recurring chemical consumption. In contrast, Purolite’s high-end resins are high-margin consumables requiring repeat purchases. Once integrated into a customer’s production process, they generate stable, predictable cash flows—an extremely attractive asset for any publicly listed company. Thus, the logic behind this acquisition is compelling and coherent: Ecolab needed Purolite’s deep technical expertise and access to premium markets; Purolite, in turn, needed Ecolab’s global network, customer base, and platform capabilities.

Deepening development in China and intensifying presence in Pudong: Multinationals accelerate localization

Candela officially entered the Waigaoqiao Xinzhan City Industrial Community in 2022, launching its first laser technology innovation base in China. It has since continued expanding its industrial footprint in China: in 2024, it secured Shanghai’s first Class III medical device approval under Document No. 104—‘import-to-local-manufacturing’—enabling domestic production of its M22 photonic device. In 2026, Candela achieved another breakthrough, obtaining domestic registration approvals for two next-generation ophthalmic and surgical laser devices—the Smart 532 green-light micropulse retinal laser and the carbon dioxide laser therapy system—successfully localizing production of these high-end devices. This not only breaks China’s longstanding dependence on imported whole-unit equipment but also completes Candela’s domestic product portfolio across ophthalmology, surgery, and aesthetic medicine. During the localization process, Waigaoqiao actively coordinated with local authorities and sector-specific regulators to establish multi-tiered communication channels for the company, offering professional policy interpretation and implementation guidance—creating an efficient government-enterprise collaboration model. Through targeted support under Pudong’s industrial policy framework, the company significantly reduced its overall operating costs. Under its localization strategy, Candela plans for 50% of products sold in the Chinese market to be manufactured locally in Waigaoqiao—shortening delivery cycles, optimizing supply chains, lowering end-user procurement costs, and simultaneously driving upgrades across China’s upstream and downstream laser medical device industry chain, thereby supporting high-quality development of Shanghai’s advanced medical device manufacturing sector. Last December, China’s Ministry of Commerce and other agencies released the fourth batch of the Comprehensive Bonded Zone Repair Product Catalogue. Within this scope, Candela has already obtained bonded repair qualifications for three types of complete medical devices, and the first batch of units awaiting repair has completed entry procedures into the zone. ‘Leveraging Waigaoqiao’s port advantages and open policy environment, we have established an Asia-Pacific cross-border bonded repair channel for complete units—creating a dual-engine business model combining domestic manufacturing and cross-border repair of complete units. This represents an upgrade from our previous model of global component-level repairs to global complete-unit repairs,’ said a senior executive at Candela. ‘This model enables rapid response to both domestic and international market demands, achieving a closed-loop industrial chain spanning production and after-sales service.’ Accelerating the creation of an ‘innovation brain’ to empower global markets Similarly grounded in localization, Ecolab has continuously increased its investment in China in recent years, steadily strengthening its localized R&D, manufacturing, sales, and service systems. It has now built a comprehensive capability system covering indigenous innovation, R&D, manufacturing, and digitalization. During a recent visit to Ecolab’s Greater China R&D Center in Pudong, reporters learned that—as Ecolab’s third-largest global R&D center—this facility has become both an ‘innovation breakthrough hub’ and a ‘technology incubator,’ having generated over 100 international invention patents to date. Meanwhile, Ecolab’s innovations developed in China are increasingly being exported to global markets.

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