Membrane materials market to grow steadily

Demand for membrane materials will grow steadily at 8.2% per year for the next five years, according to a report by Freedonia Group, a Cleveland-based industry consulting firm. Fueling the growth will be novel membrane technologies and expanded uses of existing membrane materials. Key consumers will include the petrochemical, pharmaceutical, biotechnology, food processing, and water treatment industries. Sales of membrane materials are expected to increase from $1.02 billion in 1997 to more than $1.5 billion by 2002, at which time they will account for more than 40% of the total value of membrane systems sold. Membrane material capacity is projected to increase from 418 million sq ft in 1997 to more than 740 million sq ft by 2002. Jason Alter, vice president of marketing for specialty materials at East Hills, N.Y.-based Pall Corp., a major producer of broad-based filtration and separation technologies, is even more optimistic. "We're finding new industrial applications ...