NEWS RELEASE                                                                                                                MAY 2016

Flow Control and Treatment Component Solutions provide a $500 billion Market

The market for components used in flow control and treatment will be $395 billion in 2017.  However, component suppliers have the opportunity to increase sales by 20 percent and gross margins by 40 percent by providing solutions which give the customer the lowest total cost of ownership (LTCO).  This the latest prediction in N064 Air/Gas/Water/Fluid Treatment and Control: World Market.

Component sales in 2017 will be just under $400 billion. However, if component suppliers were to pursue the solutions approach, the potential expands to well over $500 billion. This is easier said than done. The component supplier needs to understand the customer needs. In turn, this means understanding the sub process, the process and the industry.

If the supplier thoroughly understands the customer needs, he can tailor his product to best fit those needs.

Let’s take an example.  A typical valve controlling compressed air is a commodity product. One application involves pulsing air to clean filter bags.  Pentair has become the world leader in this specialty niche by understanding the dust collection cleaning process and the variations needed for various different industries.  Pentair supplies not only the valves but the headers and the controls to optimize the cleaning process.

Many industries need evaporation processes.  Mechanical Vapor Recompression (MVR) is one sub process which minimizes total energy consumption.  Colfax Howden has a number of blowers and fans to offer depending on the flow and temperature increase needed. However, it has also developed the ExVel^® fan specifically for this unique application. The impellers are suited to abrasive and corrosive conditions encountered as the steam is recompressed.

W.L. Gore has developed a number of innovative solutions based on process and industry knowledge.  Most power plants have wet flue gas desulfurization (FGD) systems. There are new rules to reduce mercury.  Wet FGD systems will remove most of this mercury with the right treatment chemicals.  The conventional solution to remove the remainder of the mercury is to use activated carbon upstream.  The problem is that any mercury removed by the carbon reduces the amount captured in the scrubber.  W.L. Gore developed a module which can be installed after the scrubber and efficiently remove remaining mercury.

Flowserve is a major supplier of pumps for reverse osmosis (RO) processes. Desalination of seawater is a big potential market. High energy cost is one of the major factors reducing the market potential.  Flowserve understood that a solution was energy recovery and acquired a company to provide it.  (Calder DWEER™)

Most flow control and treatment equipment will be purchased in countries with less application experience than in the past.  This means that international suppliers have a great opportunity to develop and sell solutions to ensure that the customer selects the lowest total cost of ownership (LTCO).  For more information, click on:  N064 Air/Gas/Water/Fluid Treatment and Control: World Market