Introduction

This chapter defines the scope of the profile and its contents, and then supplies a brief overview of the worldwide economy as it was in the middle of 2003. The profile deals with all the kinds of separating media that are now accepted as membranes, whether they are polymeric, ceramic, metallic, or liquid. The review upon which this profile is based has covered the worldwide market for membranes as used in a wide range of separation processes. The profile looks at all applications of membranes, concerned with separations involving both liquids and gases. The world market is analyzed and described in terms of the five main membrane process categories (reverse osmosis/nanofiltration, ultrafiltration and microfiltration, other liquid phase processes, and, gas separations), with further development of the “other liquid separations” category. Most applications for membranes are in rapidly expanding industry sectors, so that the future for the industry looks very good, despite the economic problems awaiting resolution.