Molecular sieving for industrial gas streams

UniSieve builds membranes from metal-organic frameworks and zeolites in Zurich, then delivers them as containerised systems that recover product, add capacity and capture CO₂. No separation chemicals, no heating or cooling cycles.

Read the operating principle

A single pore, schematic. Small molecules pass, larger ones are held back.

$25M raised, incl. a $9M Series A in October 2026

Orano Venture Fund
Supernova Invest
Amadeus APEX
Founderful
Zürcher Kantonalbank
Guenat Holding

1Summary

Separating molecules uses an estimated 10 to 15% of the world's energy, mostly as heat for distillation and solvent regeneration. UniSieve replaces that heat with pressure and a crystal pore sized to the job.

Founded: 2018, Zurich
Origin: ETH Zurich
Founders: Samuel Hess, Elia Schneider
Materials: MOFs and zeolites
Delivery: Containerised, turnkey
Units in the field: 5+ demonstration units

2Operating principle

Feed gas enters a membrane cartridge. A pressure difference drives molecules toward a layer of crystals whose pores are fixed by their structure. Molecules small enough to fit pass through and leave as permeate. The rest stay on the feed side and leave as retentate. Both streams run continuously.

Fig. 2.1 Membrane cross-section, schematic, not to scaleFull technology section

3Figures and baselines

The three numbers on the current website, with the baseline column an engineer will ask for first. Cells marked amber are the ones this concept would ask UniSieve to fill in before launch.

Figure	Value	Compared with	Where measured
Energy for the separation step	−90%	Thermal separation of the same streamReference process to be named	Site, year, stream to confirm
Production capacity of an existing asset	+8%	Same plant before debottlenecking	Plant type and unit to confirm
CO₂ captured per year	25,000 t	Per installed system size	System size to confirm

Thermal separation

100

UniSieve sieving

Fig. 3.1 Energy index for the separation step, derived from the −90% figureSource: unisieve.com

4Delivery

Equipment, licence and service are sold as one system. The customer buys an outcome, not a component to de-risk alone.

Line drawing of a plant with the process area chosen for membrane integration highlighted in green

Identify the opportunity

Source, concentration, annual volume and destination of the stream. Viability before hardware.

Line drawing of a containerised UniSieve pilot unit

Validate with a pilot

A unit installed on the plant, running on the customer's own gas, producing operating data.

Isometric line drawing of a full-scale separation system with piping and process units

Deploy and operate

The full system configured for the site, integrated, commissioned and operated on site.

5Applications

One separation platform, tuned by changing the crystal. Three applications are in commercial focus.

Application	Typical use	Value to the plant	Status
Hydrocarbon separation	Olefin off-gas, flare gas recovery	Product recovered, capacity added	Nearing commercial readiness
Carbon capture	Point-source CO₂ from flue gas	CO₂ for use or storage	Live test at Qemetica
Specialty gases	Refrigerants, PFAS, semiconductor gases	Emissions controlled, gas reused	Application development

6Field record

Industrial plant with chimneys beside a river at sunset

Illustrative photo from the UniSieve website, not the Qemetica site

Qemetica, Poland

Qemetica, formerly CIECH, has started live testing a UniSieve CO₂ capture unit. The captured CO₂ is used on site to make carbonates such as soda ash.

ApplicationPoint-source carbon capture
CO₂ routeOn-site use, carbonates
StageLive test, 2026

Source: Tech Funding News, Oct 2026

Technical data sheet

Membrane principle, system envelope, utilities and the questions we need answered about your stream. Sent by an engineer, not a mailing list.

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