Joe Sawa is the co-founder and CEO of Membravo, which develops advanced membranes to reduce waste and energy use across industrial processes. He previously spent more than a decade in industry, working in energy and hydrogen. Sawa holds a B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an M.B.A. from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley, where he focused on energy and sustainability.
Membravo’s membranes are designed to operate under harsh conditions, enabling the recovery of value-added chemicals like hydrogen from industrial gas streams and enhancing extraction and recovery processes in the critical materials industry from aqueous media. By reducing production costs and emissions, Membravo supports cleaner, more efficient operations. Compact, scalable, and field-proven, the technology transforms waste into value—paving the way for a more sustainable separation economy.