Industrial refinery at sunset with steam plumes rising against a pink and orange sky

Membranes for Critical Industries

Critical resource recovery for the harshest industries.

Circularity and waste recovery for energy, rare earths, chemicals, helium, mining, semiconductors, pharma, and more.

Valuable molecules and energy are going to waste.

Existing separation technologies fail to recover product, use enormous amounts of energy, and are prohibitively expensive. Polymer membranes are efficient and affordable but are too fragile for the temperatures, pressures, and chemistry of many working plants.

$1T+

of product is lost each year due to ineffective separation technology.

15%

of global energy is used for industrial separations.

Aerial view of a turquoise pit lake filling an abandoned open-pit mine, ringed by terraced pale ochre rock benches

Industries

Membravo recovers value in the applications that need it most.

Drop-in replacements for existing assets, and new membrane systems for greenfield builds.

Aerial view of a refinery with distillation columns and process pipework — Refining, syngas, and chemicals

Terraced benches and exposed geology in a large open-pit mine — Critical minerals and mining

Close-up of a patterned semiconductor wafer in green and blue light — Semiconductors and pharmaceuticals

Industrial gas pipework running beneath a clear blue sky — Energy and helium

Products

The world's most robust polymer membranes

Conventional polymer membranes are efficient and cost-effective, but they don't survive the high heat and harsh chemicals that exist in real industry. That's where Membravo's membranes thrive, with better separation performance and longer service life.

One chemistry, three product families: gas, organic solvent, and aqueous.

Stainless steel process manifolds fitted with pressure gauges and isolation valves

Gas Separation Membranes

Commercial units available now

The only polymer membrane that separates hydrogen and helium from carbon dioxide.

Isolated brushed stainless gas separation membrane vessel marked MEMBRAVO, with bolted end closures, saddle feet, one radial nozzle and axial connections at each end

H₂ and Helium from CO₂: The only commercially available polymer membrane that separates hydrogen and helium from carbon dioxide, making CO₂-heavy streams recoverable.
Continuous Operation Up To 225°C: Runs at process temperature rather than requiring the stream to be cooled and reheated, and holds selectivity where conventional polymer membranes soften and fail.
Withstands Water, H₂S, and Heavy Hydrocarbons: Built for real plant conditions and severe upsets, including water, H₂S, heavy hydrocarbons and other harsh impurities. Longer element life, fewer changeouts.
Retrofits Into Existing Assets: Compatible with existing membrane housings. Debottleneck PSA and cryogenic units, or run as a stand-alone skid.

Refinery off-gas, purge loops, ammonia cracking, and syngas trains carry valuable hydrogen in hot, contaminated mixtures. The membrane recovers it under the conditions already present in the process, displacing hydrogen that would otherwise be purchased or reformed.

Applications

Syngas and SAF trains
Helium recovery
Refinery off-gas
Hydrogen purge recovery
Ammonia cracking
Chemical manufacturing
Semiconductor manufacturing
Industrial gas purification

Organic Solvent Nanofiltration

Available 2027 · Pilot testing now

Dewater and separate small molecules with 200 to 1,400 Dalton cutoffs without boiling the stream.

Isolated mirror-polished stainless membrane housing marked MEMBRAVO, with clamp-band end closures, two radial sanitary stubs and one center permeate port

Stable in Aggressive Organic Solvents: Designed for solvents that dissolve, swell, or degrade conventional nanofiltration elements.
A Pressure-Driven Alternative to Thermal Duty: Performs part of a molecular separation without a phase change, cutting the material that must be repeatedly heated and condensed.
Dehydration and Solvent Recovery: Remove water from solvent streams or return solvent to the process instead of to waste, cutting purchase and disposal cost at the same time.
200–1,400 Dalton Molecular Weight Cutoffs: Selectable cutoffs across the range let one platform handle dehydration, solvent exchange, and small-molecule fractionation in the same process.

Many solvent separations stay tied to distillation because standard membranes cannot survive the liquid they are meant to process. The membrane installs in an existing skid, as a side loop, or ahead of a thermal step, shrinking the separation duty without changing the chemistry of the process.

Applications

Chemical manufacturing
Pharmaceutical manufacturing
Solvent recycle
Solvent exchange
Product concentration
Molecular fractionation
Synthetic biology
Bioprocessing

Aqueous Nanofiltration / Reverse Osmosis

Available 2027 · Pilot testing now

Operate in acid too aggressive for any other polymer membrane. Recover acid and critical minerals instead of neutralizing them.

Isolated filament-wound fiberglass composite membrane housing marked MEMBRAVO, with molded end caps, a radial feed nozzle, a radial retentate nozzle and one center permeate port

Acid Recovery: Concentrate and return free acid to the process instead of neutralizing and disposing of it, cutting reagent purchase and waste volume together.
Extreme-pH Operation: The lowest pH tolerance of any polymer membrane, bringing pressure-driven concentration to streams now managed by neutralization, evaporation, or disposal.
Resistance to Chlorine and Oxidizers: Withstands chemistry that degrades conventional NF/RO elements within a service interval.
Selective Concentration of Valuable Ions: Concentrate lithium, rare earths, and other valuable ions from streams now sent to waste. A disposal cost becomes recovered revenue.
Stable Through Process Variability: Holds flux and selectivity as feed pH and temperature swing.

Acid mine drainage, hydrometallurgical leachates, black-mass recycling, and semiconductor chemical streams all carry critical minerals that fall outside the limits of standard NF/RO. The membrane operates inside that gap, starting on a side stream and scaling with the application.

Applications

Acid recovery
Critical minerals
Lithium recovery
Rare earth element recovery
Battery recycling
Mining
Acid mine drainage
Semiconductor chemicals
Industrial water treatment
Process-water recycle

About

Team Leadership

Founded in 2023, Membravo's team brings decades of experience in membrane technology and manufacturing, industrial process operations, and technology scale-up.

Joe is founder and CEO of Membravo. He spent a decade at Shell in a variety of engineering and operations roles across oil and gas and new energies, working in Houston, Rio de Janeiro, and San Francisco. He holds a BS in chemical engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and an MBA from UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business, where he focused on energy and sustainability.

Joe Sawa

Founder & CEO

Milad is founder and CTO of Membravo. He developed Membravo's membrane platform during his years at SRI International in Menlo Park, and has worked on membranes and industrial separations at companies including Parker Hannifin. He holds a PhD in chemical engineering and membrane technology from the University at Buffalo.

Milad Yavari, PhD

Founder & CTO

Hassan is a specialist with 10+ years of membrane technology development, including roles at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in Saudi Arabia, and before that at Nanjing Tech University in China. He holds a PhD from Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

Hassan Younas, PhD

Membrane Engineering

Zach is solutions manager at Membravo. He spent ten years at ExxonMobil across engineering, operations, and business development, and later held commercial roles at a high-growth membrane company. He holds a BS in chemical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.

Zach Foss

Solutions Manager

Hannah is an advisor to Membravo. She is chief technology officer at Graphyte, and previously served as CTO and head of business development at Ardent, a membrane company. Earlier in her career she worked at McKinsey and at Activate. She holds a PhD in materials science from UC Berkeley.

Hannah Murnen, PhD

Strategic Advisor

Roman is an advisor to Membravo. He has held a variety of industrial tech investment roles, including at Shell Ventures. He holds a BS in finance from San Jose State University and an MBA from UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business.

Roman Kiwakyou

Finance Advisor

Mark is an advisor to Membravo. He founded and led Eastman Ventures, the corporate venture arm of Eastman Chemical, and has spent his career building and backing industrial technology companies. He is a chemical engineer by training and holds an MBA.

Mark Klopp

Startup Advisor

Career Opportunities

We're growing. New roles will be posted as they open.

Partners, Affiliates and Investors

Contact

Get in touch.

Please reach out to discuss pilot projects, investment, or partnership opportunities.

Prefer email? Write to info@membravo.com.