Gas Separation MembranesMembranes are the leading technology for biogas upgrading:

Membranes have rapidly become the leading technology for biogas upgrading, driven by their simplicity, low OPEX, and superior energy efficiency. This IDTechEx report provides a comprehensive overview of the biogas upgrading space, including regional biomethane demand forecasts, market drivers/barriers for RNG, leading membrane players and materials, emerging membrane materials, and alternative biogas upgrading technologies.

 

Gas separation membranes for post-combustion carbon capture are scaling up:

Outside of natural gas processing (CO2/CH4 separation), incumbent polymer membranes do not perform well at carbon capture (usually CO2/N2 separation). However, compared to incumbent amine-solvent post-combustion capture technologies, the lower energy demand of membranes could significantly lower carbon capture costs. Therefore, post-combustion capture will be a significant market growth opportunity for new membrane materials.

 

This IDTechEx report includes market research on projects, players, materials, benchmarking, and economic analysis for gas separation membranes in post-combustion carbon capture. Gas separation membranes for post-combustion capture, although not yet at the megatonne per annum scale, are continuing to scale up, with projects capable of capturing 10,000s tonnes per annum of CO2 coming online in 2025/2026.

 

Established and emerging hydrogen applications present opportunities for membranes:

Membranes are already established for mature hydrogen applications such as ammonia and methanol production. The most economic performance is usually achieved by deploying gas separation membranes in hybrid systems alongside technologies such as pressure swing adsorption (PSA). For emerging applications, new membrane materials such as palladium membranes are being explored, offering advantages such as high hydrogen purity. In this report, IDTechEx provides a detailed overview of gas separation membranes for hydrogen separations, assessing key markets, players, and materials.

 

New gas separation membrane materials can improve performance:

Incumbent asymmetric polymer membranes are easy to fabricate and cheap to produce. However, new gas separation membrane materials can enhance separation performance. This IDTechEx report analyses emerging players and materials for gas separation membranes, including players seeking to commercialize advanced polymer materials, metals, ceramics, carbon-based membranes, and new composite structures (such as thin film composites and mixed matric membranes). New membrane materials examined include Pd-metallic membranes, PEG-based membranes, facilitated transport membranes, mixed matrix membranes with MOFs, carbon fiber membranes, graphene membranes, zeolite ceramic membranes, polybenzimidazole membranes, and carbon molecular sieves.

 

Key Aspects: This report provides the following information:

Market Analysis: Gas Separation Membranes for Decarbonization Applications

• Granular market forecasts until 2036 for revenue from membrane materials and area of membrane material (subdivided into 5 application areas), biomethane production forecasts (segmented by region), and other gas market forecasts for natural gas production, post-combustion carbon capture, and hydrogen applications.
• Detailed overview of major membrane manufacturers, including key products, partnerships, and market developments.
• Market assessment and outlook for key emerging markets. This includes commercial developments, market drivers and company landscapes:
• Biogas upgrading to biomethane (RNG)
• Carbon capture (natural gas processing, post-combustion, and emerging applications such as direct air capture and oxyfuel combustion)
• Hydrogen separation (ammonia production, methanol production, petrochemical/refining, and emerging applications such as blue hydrogen, ammonia cracking, and hydrogen deblending)
• Helium production and recovery

Technology Assessment: Incumbent and Emerging Gas Separation Membrane Materials

• Technology overview of polymeric, ceramic, metal, and composite membranes.
• For each gas separation application, a comparison against alternative separation techniques (e.g., PSA or cryogenic) and discussion on pain points and technical -Key technology assessments (TRL, benchmarking) for emerging membranes targeting the separation of gas mixtures. Examples include thin film composite (TFC) membranes, facilitated transport membranes (FTMs), polymers of intrinsic microporosity (PIM), mixed matrix membranes (MMMs), and many more.