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The water management chemicals market is split into two major categories:
- Commodity chemicals such as alum (aluminum sulfate), chlorine, ferric sulfate, ferric chloride and polyaluminum chloride
- Specialty chemicals, such as ion exchange resins and organic coagulants and flocculants, and formulated products, including biocides and corrosion and scale inhibitors
This report focuses on the market for specialty chemicals in water management.
The United States uses specialty water treatment chemicals more intensively than Europe and Japan—particularly coagulants and flocculants. In Western Europe and Japan, engineering and technical solutions are preferred when they can be used as a substitute for specialty chemicals. When chemicals are used, the less expensive commodity chemicals such as alum, ferric sulfate, ferric chloride and polyaluminum chloride are typically used in preference to organic polymers. In the United States the rate of consumption is slowing as emphasis is increasingly placed on minimizing dosing levels and on cost reduction. Greater adoption of desalination is not significantly impacting specialty chemical consumption; the process requires lower quantities of specialty chemicals in exchange for greater capital equipment (such as reverse osmosis membranes) and power requirements compared with conventional drinking water treatment.
Global water management industry growth is dependent on (1) regulatory drivers, (2) industrial development requiring high-quality process water, and (3) drinking water improvement projects in part motivated by drinking water scarcity. Items 2 and 3 are most important in developing nations, particularly in China. Desalination is becoming more important in some coastal communities in the United States, and in Europe but not nearly as important as on the Arabian Peninsula, and other portions of the Middle East and North Africa, where modern life depends on desalination. Wastewater closed-loop recycling and wastewater recovery and reuse (ultrafiltration of wastewater for direct use) strategies are increasingly being implemented in the United States and in other developed regions as motivated by drinking water scarcity.
The global water treatment industry continues its major transformation as leading service companies, chemical formulators and producers have launched recent acquisitions. The largest development in the water management industry in the last five years has been General Electric’s acquisitions and subsequent creation of GE Infrastructure, a global integrated provider of service, outsourced staffing, chemicals, engineering and project financing for the water market.
Successful companies will respond to the changing needs for service and service outsourcing, as well as chemical products and formulations. The water management market continues to have growth potential as a result of rising regulatory standards, and increasing awareness of drinking water health and purity issues in all geographic markets, but especially in developing regions.
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