Ceramic membranes form an increasing proportion of the well-established membrane filtration market for water treatment, with a share by value of around 10%. Ceramics have still not penetrated the largest segment with the highest growth, namely seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) pre-treatment but are now well positioned in the drinking water and industrial wastewater markets. Indeed, a significant number of drinking water projects are specifying ceramics due to concerns with the integrity and longevity of more traditional polymeric membranes.

In terms of technology, the market has split between multiple channel inside-feed offerings (primarily from Metawater and Nanostone), and outside-feed flat sheet offerings with leading exponents being Cerafiltec and Cembrane, as well as the membrane bio-reactor (MBR) specialist Meiden. The flat sheet format is well accepted for wastewater filtration and MBR and is trying to gain acceptance for the important SWRO pre-treatment segment. However, the inside-feed approach seems to be well accepted for the drinking water.

Up to 2015, the market was completely dominated by Metawater which accounted for about 80% of the relatively small ceramic supplier market together with its partner PWNT. However, since 2016, several new players have entered the market and became commercially successful, including Nanostone with an inside-feed format and Cembrane and Cerafiltec with their outside-feed formats. These new entrants each now have a significant share, rivalling or even surpassing Metawater. The market has grown more than fourfold in the last decade to an estimated value in 2024 of $63M pa (excluding MBR). The four market leaders have grown to account for more than 80% of the expanded market with a dramatic growth for the flat sheet offerings.