2017 Water and Wastewater Treatment Chemicals Purchases Will Exceed $27 Billion
Next year the purchases of water and wastewater treatment chemicals will exceed $27 billon. This represents the final price to the end user. Much of the revenue sticks with the companies who mix commodity chemicals to provide custom treatment. Ecolab and GE Betz are examples of the companies with the expertise to recommend the right chemical blend and then to furnish it. Much of the value is generated by the process knowledge of the supplier.
Water and Wastewater Treatment Chemicals Purchases ($ Millions) (Image: McIIlvaine)
Municipal wastewater treatment represents the largest single industry segment. The problems with lead contaminated water in Flint, Michigan underscore the importance of treatment chemicals for this application.
The power industry is the second largest purchaser. Coal-fired power plants in China will spend over $1 billion for treatment chemicals in 2017. There are many supercritical and ultra-supercritical boilers in operation in the country. High quality treatment chemicals are needed to keep them operating.
Wastewater is a steady growth industry as developing countries are installing secondary treatment systems and need to purify the discharged wastewater as well as to dewater sludge.
The oil and gas industry must treat water from various sources including the produced water which is extracted along with oil. The lack of new drilling sites is encouraging water treatment since there are fewer options for reintroduction of the water which is already being produced.
Source: Jung Process Systems GmbH
