Membrane and Desalination Technologies - TCE Moodle Website

34 A.G. (Tony) Fane et al.
l Estimated at $740 million dollars in 2004, the market for membrane technology used in biopharmaceutical
discovery, development and commercial production is expected to rise at an average
annual growth rate of 10.7% to $1.23 billion in 2009.
Overall, the application of RO, UF, MF and MBR processes are growing at 10% or more
per annum to a market of about $8 billion by 2010.
4.2. Membranes for Refinery, Petrochemical and Natural Gas Industries
With global goals of cleaner energy and shortening supply of fossil fuels, the market for
novel energy efficient separation technologies is expected to see sustained growth over the
foreseeable future, and membrane-based separation technologies are particularly well positioned
for high demand. As shown in Table 1.13, The total membrane market for GS is
expected to reach $350 million by 2010 and to double by 2020 to $760 million with an average
growth rate of 7–8%/year in the refinery, petrochemical and natural gas industries (136).
Specifically, the development of improved membrane separation and purification technology
for use in the production of hydrogen will be one of the focuses. Various membranes
including ceramic ionic transport membranes, microporous membranes and palladium based
membranes are expected to be used for a wide range of production capacities, from large
central production facilities to small-distributed production units. Offshore natural gas
processing is another area where membrane technology exhibits great potential. Conventional
gas treatment technologies are increasingly unattractive for deep water operations or
for remote sites where gas pipelining is uneconomical. Membrane-based processes could offer
the benefits of operating at well-head conditions and without the introduction of additional
components. The ongoing progress in membrane technology will also enable sequestration of
carbon dioxide from the process of coal gasification for the reduction of greenhouse gases
(141). Given the growing concerns about greenhouse gas emission, this application could
become the most significant application of membrane technology. However, it presents major
Table 1.13
Future membrane market for gas separation (adapted from ref.
(136))
Separation Membrane market (USD million)
2000 2010 2020
Nitrogen from air 75 100 125
Oxygen from air