High Performance Cartridges Represent Thirty Percent of the Market
Liquid cartridges can be segmented by construction. String wound are commodity designs as are some nonwovens. However there are high performance nonwovens and membrane cartridges which are used in critical applications in the pharmaceutical, chemical and semiconductor industry.
This high performance segment of the market accounts for 30% of the total. This percentage is based on revenues not units since the high performance cartridges are much more expensive than the commodity designs. The market for cartridges to purify liquids will reach $20 billion worldwide by 2024. This is the latest prediction of the McIlvaine Company in N024 Cartridge Filters: World Market.
The report also provides projected purchases for hundreds of semiconductor, pharmaceutical, chemical, food and beverage companies.
Commercial and residential purchasers will account for half the total market which includes membrane, non-woven, string wound and metal cartridges. However in the membrane segment the pharmaceutical industry will be the largest purchaser followed by health care and then the chemical industry.
Membrane cartridge sales will increase faster than total cartridge sales due to the higher efficiency and improvements in membrane technology. Industry consolidation is expected to continue and to accelerate due to the utilization of remote monitoring technology to continually assess cartridge filter health and performance. The large filter companies such as Mann + Hummel, Parker Hannifin and Donaldson are investing heavily in remote monitoring systems. This will allow them to provide comprehensive service and replacement programs.
One division of Parker already supplies replacements for all the filters in a plant including those supplied by competitors. Many plants have thousands of cartridges. So the supply of replacements carries with it a high administrative cost relative to filter price. Blue tooth technology can be imbedded in pressure sensors attached to each filter at nominal cost. When pressure levels reach a pre-determined point the replacement filters can be automatically ordered.
Source: The McIlvaine Company
