HISTORY
Membrana has a long and rich history in membrane manufacturing and development. The company has gone through many different names and phases before reaching its current position as one of the leading worldwide independent membrane manufacturers. We focus entirely on what we do best — the research, development and production of high quality membranes and devices.
Membrana began as an industrial pioneer with large-scale production of membranes for separation in medical industries. Membrana's filtration group has continually increased its product portfolio in ultrafiltration and microfiltration membranes and devices. Membrana is also the developer and manufacturer of Liqui-Cel® Membrane Contactors that are widely used for liquid gasification and degasification around the world. Additionally, Membrana OEM membranes are used extensively in liquid filtration products within ultrafiltration and microfiltration systems.
| Company | Year | Product |
|---|---|---|
| Johann Peter Bemberg, a merchant in Elberfeld, Germany, founds a yarn dyeing company – Johann Peter Bemberg, Dyes | 1792 | |
| New buildings are built in Wuppertal Oehde, where the company is still headquartered today. | 1865 | |
| The company is renamed as J.P. Bemberg AG (public limited company) and expands to several sites in Germany. | 1903 | |
| 1920 | As the Bemberg silk became a synonym for artificial silk the company expands to several continents with subsidiaries in France, Italy, England, Japan and USA. | |
| The majority of shares are acquired by the Vereinigten Glanzstoff Factories. | 1925 | |
| After World War II, the facilities in Wuppertal are largely destroyed and the company is re-founded. | 1946 | |
| 1947 | Production starts back up. CUPROPHAN® is used as a wrapping foil. |
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| 1965 | The first flat membranes of CUPROPHAN® are produced for haemodialysis. | |
| 1969 | Production of CUPROPHAN® capillaries are also developed for haemodialysis membranes. | |
| J.P. Bemberg AG merges with Glanzstoff AG and the company is renamed as Enka Glanzstoff AG. | 1971 | |
| 1980 | Hollow fiber membrane is integrated into parallel flow MiniModule Contactors for lab-scale debubbling and degassing. | |
| 1981 | The use of membranes in technical applications begins as well as the production of fully-synthetic polyamide flat membranes. | |
| 1987 | Both HEMOPHAN®, a dialysis membrane, and OXYPHAN®, used in artificial lungs are introduced. Production of ACCUREL® flat sheet membranes starts. | |
| After Dutch Chemical company Akzo acquired ENKA, Membrana as a name emerges as a business unit of the Akzo Faser AG, Business Unit Membrana. | 1991 | |
| 1992 | A new business division, ACCUREL® Systems, is established. | |
| 1993 | The Liqui-Cel® cross-flow contactor is commercialized for large-scale flow rates up to 30 gpm in one device. | |
| The name changes to: Akzo Nobel Faser AG, Business Unit Membrana. | 1994 | MicroPES® Flat Sheet is developed. |
| 1995 | Even larger capacity Liqui-Cel® Contactors capable of processing >250 gpm are commercialized. | |
| Membrana becomes independent as Akzo Nobel MEMBRANA GmbH. | 1997 | |
| 1998 | Introduce DIAPES®, OXYPLUS®, UltraPES™ and MicroPES® capillary membranes. MicroPES® is established for blood aphaeresis. |
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| The company is renamed as MEMBRANA GMBH and becomes part of the Acordis Group. | 1999 | |
| 2000 | SuperPhobic® Contactors are introduced for degassing low surface tension fluids. | |
| Membrana GmbH becomes part of Polypore Inc. | 2002 | CELGARD® capillaries and Liqui-Cel® products are aligned in the MEMBRANA Business Unit. |
| 2004 | Commercialized and introduced of PUREMA® dialysis membrane. Started development and production of Liqui-Flux® Filtration Modules. Commercialized 14-inch Liqui-Cel® Contactors for larger scale industrial degassing. |
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| 2006 | Liqui-Flux® filtration modules are introduced into water and beverage applications. | |
| 2008 | 0.5 x 1 MicroModules® and 1 x 3 Radial Flow Contactors are developed for smaller flow rate degassing applications. | |
| 2010 | Liqui-Flux® 75 m2 Ultrafiltration module is developed for water treatment applications. |
