Messinger Engineering — About Us

Understand the Process.

At Messinger Engineering, we help food scientists, biotech companies and process engineers understand membrane processes before industrial scale-up.

We develop experimental laboratory systems, pilot plants and engineering methods for membrane filtration, separation, concentration and process development.

Our Engineering Approach

Industrial innovation begins long before a production plant is built. It begins with understanding the biological, physical and membrane processes that determine performance. Through experimental systems, engineering and pilot plant development, we enable our customers to generate the Engineering Knowledge needed to design robust, scalable and economically successful membrane processes.

→ Engineering Knowledge through Experimental Systems

Our Vision

Process Decoding

We believe that the next major innovations in food and biotechnology will not come simply from larger production plants. They will come from a deeper understanding of biological, physical and membrane-based processes.

Vision 2030: engineers, experiments and computers working together to develop new membrane processes
Vision 2030. Human expertise, experimental systems and computational tools form an integrated development environment for better processes.

Membrane processes already play a key role in food and biotechnology. They separate, concentrate, purify and fractionate molecules under comparatively mild conditions. This makes them especially valuable for proteins, enzymes, fermentation products, plant-based ingredients and many other sensitive compounds.

But the decisive factor is not only the membrane or the equipment. The decisive factor is the understanding of the process interactions: mass transfer, fouling, concentration polarization, pressure drop, flow conditions, cleaning behavior, product yield and scale-up all influence one another.

Companies that understand these interactions develop better processes. Industrial systems can be designed more accurately, operated more safely and implemented more economically. Process understanding reduces uncertainty — and uncertainty is one of the most expensive factors in industrial process development.

Understanding is not an academic exercise.
It is the most cost-effective form of engineering.

200+

Membrane systems and process plants realized from laboratory and pilot scale to industrial production.

100+

Developed, modified and automated systems for process understanding, scale-up and industrial implementation.

70+

Specialized membrane processes developed for separation, concentration and recovery of valuable molecules in food and biotech.

Alain Messinger, founder of Messinger Engineering and membrane process engineering specialist

Alain Messinger
Founder and Managing Director

Experience in membrane processes, food engineering and biotechnology

Messinger Engineering was founded by Alain Messinger, a food engineer from ETH Zurich with more than three decades of experience in membrane process development, pilot plant design, automation and industrial implementation.

His work focuses on transforming experimental results into engineering knowledge: the practical understanding needed to design, scale and operate reliable membrane processes.

Education
M.Sc. Food Technology, ETH Zurich — with focus on process engineering, enzyme technology and control engineering.
Master’s Thesis
Automation of an ultrafiltration pilot plant.
Professional Background
Engineer, Bucher Guyer AG, Switzerland
R&D Engineer, Unipektin AG, Switzerland
Further Studies
Chemical Engineering, University of Bath, United Kingdom
Philosophy, University of Zurich, Switzerland
Companies
1992, Messinger Membrane Systems AG
2006, Natan GmbH
2016, Messinger Engineering
Experience
Development of more than 70 membrane processes for food and biotech. Design, construction and commissioning of more than 200 membrane systems, from laboratory and pilot plants to industrial-scale production systems.
Clients
Engineering and development projects for international companies, specialized plant manufacturers and research groups in food, biotechnology and membrane technology.
Motivation
Making new membrane processes industrially usable through better experimental systems, reliable process data and a deeper understanding of the engineering relationships behind the process.