Air and Water Monitoring Sales to Exceed $32 Billion In 2019

The air segment includes stack continuous emissions monitors (CEMS) as well as instruments to measure physical and chemical aspects of process and combustion air. This segment is growing at a high rate due to the huge Chinese initiative to convert coal to synthetic natural gas, chemicals and fuels such as gasoline. The main route to these end products is gasification of coal. The control of oxygen is critical to the process. The removal of contaminants from the gasified coal needs to be measured. Pressure and temperature monitoring requires substantial numbers of sensors and control systems.

The monitoring of water and other liquids such as fuels requires twice as much of an investment as does the air monitoring. One of the more challenging new applications is subsea gas and oil extraction. Monitoring the boiler feedwater for coal-fired power, nuclear and combined cycle gas turbine plants is a major application requiring very precise measurement. Oxygen needs to be measured in parts per billion. Silica, iron and other contaminants also need to be measured at low levels.

The new ultra-supercritcal coal-fired boilers require higher temperature and pressure measurements than previous generator designs. There are increasing numbers of contaminants which must be measured in the stack gas discharge. The U.S. has passed regulations requiring mercury measurements as low as 4 micrograms per cubic meter.

The semiconductor and pharmaceutical industries are measuring much smaller quantities of air, gas and water. However the need for precision makes the average instrument relatively expensive. So these two industries are also significant purchasers.