Ion Exchange Membrane Market size is forecast to reach $632.1 million by 2026, after growing at a CAGR of 3.4% during 2021-2026. Growth of the ion exchange membrane market is mainly attributed to its wide-ranging applications across desalination, waste water treatment, radioactive liquid waste treatment and various other applications. Rising demand for safe drinking water and government initiatives to ensure clean water supply is anticipated to drive the growth of the market. Additionally, in future, the rising demand for wastewater treatment projects in developed economies is expected to provide opportunities for the market growth. Furthermore, increased water scarcity across various regions will upsurge the ion exchange membrane industry over the forecast period.

The emergence of COVID-19, which is declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation, had a noticeable impact on regional economic growth in 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic positively impacted the growth of ion exchange membrane market. During pandemic, the need of clean water for health, food and nutrition security increased owing to increasing transmission of coronavirus through drinking water and sewage water. Moreover, many government bodies and non-profit organization took initiatives to create awareness about water safety and security that increased the demand of ion exchange membrane and hence raised the growth of the market.

The report “Ion Exchange Membrane Market– Forecast (2021-2026)”, by IndustryARC, covers an in-depth analysis of the following segments of the ion exchange membrane market.

By Charge Analysis: Cation Exchange Membrane, Anion Exchange Membrane, Amphoteric Exchange Membrane, Bipolar Exchange Membrane, and Mosaic Exchange Membrane.

By Material: Hydrocarbon Membrane, Perfluorocarbon Membrane, Inorganic Membrane, Composite Membrane, and Partially Halogenated Membrane.

By Application: Electro Dialysis, Electrolysis, Chromatographic Separation, Desalination, Waste Water Treatment, and Radioactive Liquid Waste Treatment.

By Structure: Heterogenous Membrane and Homogenous Membrane

By Geography: North America (U.S., Canada, and Mexico), Europe (UK, Germany, Italy, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Denmark, and Rest of Europe), Asia Pacific (China, Australia, Japan, South Korea, India, Taiwan, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Rest of APAC), South America (Brazil, Venezuela, Argentina, Ecuador, Peru, Colombia, Costa Rica, and Rest of South America), and Middle East and Africa (Israel, Saudi Arabia, UAE, South Africa, and Rest of Middle East & Africa).

Cation exchange membrane held the largest share of 45.5% by revenue in the ion exchange membrane market in 2020. Cation exchange membrane consists of negatively charged functional groups. They are typically made of fluorinated polymer and transfer protons to show high conductivity owing to the presence of negatively charged sulfonate group. These materials help in electro dialysis and are strong acid polymer membranes, containing significant quantities of sulphonic acid groups and show excellent ion conductivity and chemical/thermal durability. Increasing use of cation exchange membrane in various ion exchange membrane applications would further drive the market growth.

Perfluorocarbon membrane held the largest share of 37.1% by revenue in the ion exchange membrane market in 2020. Perfluorocarbon membranes are very stable against oxidative corrosion and chemical attack caused by high potentials. They are widely used acid electrolytes for iron chromium cells or vanadium redox flow cells. The factors boosting the market growth are proton conductivity of perfluorinated membrane owing to their architecture that leads to very effective proton transport, as long as the hydrophilic regions consists enough water. Also, the rising use of perfluorocarbon membrane to fabricate cation exchange membranes is estimated to drive the demand of the market.

Electrolysis held the largest share with 35% in the ion exchange membrane market in 2020 and is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 2.7% during the forecast period 2021-2026. Ion exchange membranes (IEMs) have great potential in diverse applications of electrolysis and play prominent roles in addressing energy and environment related issues. Hence, the development of IEMs in the use of electrolysis has attracted much research attention in terms of materials, preparation and applications, owing to their academic and industrial values. Ion exchange membranes are also used as a separator in organic synthesis by electrolysis a typical example is hydro dimerization of acrylonitrile to produce adiponitrile. Moreover, owing to its compactness and high efficiency and cost-effective nature, ion exchange membranes (IEM) are in demand in green hydrogen processing for future energy supply systems. Thus, the increasing usage of ion exchange membrane in the electrolysis application is estimated to drive the market growth in the forecast period.

Heterogenous membrane held the largest share in the ion exchange membrane market in 2020. The ion exchange groups in Heterogeneous membranes are contained in small domains and are distributed throughout the inert matrix. The excellent structural stability of heterogeneous membrane and better mechanical strength and chemical stability and relatively low cost of production of heterogeneous membrane are the key factors driving the market growth for heterogeneous membrane. The low cost performance of homogenous membranes is optimized by varying its composition such as binder, ion exchange, and additives and physical parameters like porosity, thickness. Thus, rising demand for heterogenous membrane will further boost the growth of the market.

Asia Pacific dominated the ion exchange membrane market in terms of revenue with a share of 48.7% in 2020 and is projected to dominate the market during the forecast period 2021-2026. In highly populated countries such as China, India, and other APAC countries, the need for re-use of water and conservation is rising at a significant rate. Also, the increasing applicability of ion exchange membranes in various applications such as desalination, wastewater treatment, and electrodialysis, among others in countries such as Japan and India will raise the growth of the market. In India, the Safe Drinking Water Act requires EPA (the United States Environmental Protection Agency) to establish regulations, to protect human health from contaminants in drinking water. The act authorizes EPA to develop national beverage standards and ensure compliance with these standards. Thus, growing demand for ion exchange membrane from various end use industries in this region will further drive the market growth in the forecast period.

Healthcare sector generates a large amount of wastewater which consists of harmful bacteria and in order to reduce such causes wastewater management in healthcare sector are using technologies such as ion selective permeable membranes to select the ions that are required during the process and to make water reusable for manufacturing medicines. In pharmaceutical Industry, ion exchange resins are used for the purification of drugs and are used to mask the taste and smell of drugs that increases the demand and are driving the growth of this market. Also, ion exchange membrane are commonly used for a wide range of electrochemical applications, such as fuel cells, batteries, electrodialysis, and sensors which increases the use of ion exchange membrane in electronic sector and are boosting the growth of the market. Therefore, rising demand for ion exchange membrane in the electronic and healthcare industry is projected to fuel the market for ion exchange membrane market during the forecast period.

High investment is required in case of ion exchange membranes and more time is required in use of ion exchange membranes, which are significantly increasing the overall cost and are challenging the growth of this market. Moreover, various research and development activities in membrane performance, processes, and designs further increase the cost that are challenging the growth of this market. For instance, currently the cost of ion exchange membrane is approximately $250-500/m2 which is too expensive and is challenging the growth of ion exchange membrane market growth.

Technology launches, acquisitions, and R&D activities are key strategies adopted by players in the ion exchange membrane market. Major players in the ion exchange membrane market are Fujifilm Holdings Corporation, Asahi Kasei Corporation, Saltworks Technologies Inc., Resintech Inc., SnowPure, LLC, FUMATECH BWT GmbH, AGC Chemicals Americas Inc., Rising Sun Membrane Technology (Beijing) Co Ltd, Liaoning Yichen Membrane Technology Co Ltd., and MEGA A.S. among others.