Ionic JV China

The agency channel is still the main battlefield for water purification sales. With the rise of e-commerce, online channels have become a new growth point. In 2017, most of the online market growth of enterprises was larger than that of offline markets, and the online share increased year by year.

At present, the water purification market penetration rate is less than 20%, but with the increase in consumer income, health awareness and water quality problems, the water purification market is expected to continue to grow at a high rate in the future. Industry online data predicts that the sales volume of water purification equipment will reach 18.5 million units in 2018, with sales of 15.2 billion yuan, which will exceed 20 million by 2019.

http://www.chinaiol.com/scl/s/0420/63194828.html

If I understood the AGM correctly it is the agency channel the JV is targeting with the domestic membranes, contractors that switch out household filters monthly.

FWIW this whole page devoted to China water: http://www.chinaiol.com/scl/

This one new materials, appears to be a growing interest in graphene: http://www.chinaiol.com/nm/