Most farming regions that experience severe droughts have abundant brackish water aquifers that are too expensive to access. Membrion’s Ceramic Ion Exchange Membranes, made from silica gel, the desiccant in the bottom of a beef jerky package, provide a 30% reduction to the levelized cost of brackish water purification compared to the gold standard currently available. Membrion’s innovation uniquely enables electrodialysis to become the new gold standard for low cost and high recovery brackish water treatment. Membrion’s ion exchange membranes are not simply an iterative development within polymer chemistry, but a radical step change that uses functionalized, nanoporous ceramic materials and green sol-gel processes to achieve state-of-the-art performance and ultra-low cost. The membranes can also be used to selectively transport cations in electrochemical applications including but not limited to desalination, food & beverage production, fuel cells, and batteries.

This product is the only commercial ceramic ion exchange membrane and has been funded with $10 million from investors and government grants over the last four years.