$54 Billion Market for Flow and Treatment Products and Services

19.02.2014

Municipal drinking water and wastewater treatment facilities around the world will spend $54 billion this year for products and services involving flow control and treatment of air, gas, liquids and water. This is the conclusion reached by the McIlvaine Company in Air/Gas/Water/Fluid Treatment and Control: World Market.

$54 Billion Market for Flow and Treatment Products and Services

Municipal Flow and Treat Revenues 2014 (Image: McIlvaine)

The ratio of pump to valve sales is higher in municipal drinking water than in municipal wastewater due to the greater number of treatment processes needed in wastewater treatment. Plant operators are slowly moving to automation which industrial plants have already adopted. This is increasing the demand for smart pumps and valves which can indicate performance and maintenance requirements.

The liquid physical treatment processes involve delivering purified water, but also in dewatering solids. With the interest of reuse of wastewater, highly efficient technologies such as reverse osmosis are being incorporated.

Other treatment involves disinfection and biological treatment. The large size of this segment is due to the sizable investment in biological treatment of wastewater. Disinfection choices are being influenced by new rules limiting the release of disinfection byproducts. Non-chemical approaches such as ultra- violet (UV) treatment are carving out market share at the expense of chemicals such as chlorine.

Air and gas flow and treatment is required due to the use of air for aeration of biological sludges and the need for odor reduction from wastewater treatment processes. The blowers and compressors needed for aeration are the largest power consumers in the wastewater plant. There is a priority now being given to increase aeration efficiency and decrease energy consumption. Cities around the world receive more complaints about odors from wastewater plants than complaints about any other air pollutants. Biofilters and scrubbers can eliminate these escaping odors.

Too much is being spent for chemicals and not enough for automation of municipal water and wastewater treatment plants. These plants are also labor intensive with many manual quality samples being needed. Automatic sampling and control of processes promises to reduce plant costs.

More articles on this topic

Wilo is Donating Mobile Water Treatment Systems to Ukraine

08.04.2022 -

The Wilo Group is donating more than 60 mobile water treatment systems to Ukraine. Each of these systems, called PAUL (portable aqua unit for lifesaving), can filter around 1,200 litres of water per day and therefore supply at least 400 people in crisis areas with fresh drinking water. Thus, the water-backpacks help to maintain vital basic supplies in severely stricken communities.

Read more

Watson-Marlow Announces Ground Breaking of New State-of-the-Art Manufacturing Facility

25.11.2021 -

Watson-Marlow is pleased to announce the ground breaking of its new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Devens Massachusetts. A celebration ceremony was held on Thursday, November 18th at 16 Bulge Road in Devens MA. The new facility will be dedicated to Watson-Marlow’s range of industry leading products, including peristaltic pumps, tubing, fluid path solutions and BioPure components.

Read more

Wilo Commits to Ambitious Climate Protection Targets

19.10.2021 -

The Dortmund-based technology company Wilo has signed the so-called “Business Ambition for 1.5 °C”. As part of the campaign of the “Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi)”, companies and organisations commit themselves to reducing global pollutant emissions to zero by 2050 and thus to limiting global warming to 1.5 °C.

Read more