Pushed by the increasing demand for materials, energy and products, chemical engineering today faces a crucial challenge: to support a sustainable industrial growth. One possible solution is process intensification (PI), the innovative design strategy aiming to improve manufacturing and processing by decreasing the equipment size/productivity ratio, energy consumption and waste production using innovative technical solutions. Membrane processes meet the requirements of PI because they have potential to replace conventional energy-intensive techniques, to accomplish the selective and efficient transport of specific components, and to improve the performance of reactive processes. Here, we identify the most interesting aspects of membrane engineering in some strategic industrial sectors. The opportunity to integrate conventional membrane units with innovative systems in order to exploit the potential advantages coming from their synergic applications is also emphasized. (c) 2007 Society of Chemical Industry