Asian Ultrapure Water System Sales to Exceed $3 Billion By 2016

Asian growth will exceed the other continents in the following applications:

• Coal-fired Power
• Nuclear Power
• Photovoltaic
• Flat Panel Displays
• Memory
• Semiconductors
• Pharmaceuticals
• Bottled Drinks

Asia will spend more for coal-fired ultrapure water systems than ROW combined. China is building ultra supercritical boilers which require the most expensive ultrapure water systems. India, Indonesia and other countries in the region are also planning large increases in coal-fired power generation.

Asia is the one region which has significant nuclear activity. Nearly all the photovoltaic manufacturing is taking place in Asia. The same is true for memory and flat panel displays. Taiwan has become the leading semiconductor manufacturer with China in pursuit. All these industries require ultrapure water at each processing step to remove the etching solutions and other chemicals used to form the lines and shapes.

The one area where Asia has not gained much ground is proprietary pharmaceuticals. However, Asia is the selected location for generic pharmaceutical manufacture. International drug companies are building very substantial research and production facilities in China and India. The growth in generics is higher than proprietary pharmaceuticals.

Asia is also expanding its manufacture of bottled water and other drinks where the source water has to be purified beyond the level of normal drinking water. This application does not require ultrapure water at the highest level. This is defined as water that has 18 Megohm-cm or greater specific resistance, with other attributes such as bacterial count, TOC (total organic carbon), pyrogen and/or endotoxin, etc. However, bottled water producers are using purification and monitoring techniques required by the traditional ultrapure water users.