NEWS RELEASE                                                                            March 2017

$20 Billion Filtration and Separation IIoT and Remote O&M Market by 2026

Filtration and separation involves many variables. The applications are frequently critical to successful manufacturing of products and delivery of clean water. The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) empowered by the Industrial Internet of Wisdom (IIoW) will have a $10 billion impact on the market size by 2026 and will divert another $10 billion through different market routes. Sales of filtration and separation equipment and consumables will exceed $95 billion in 2026. Of this total $20 billion will be attributable to the impact of IIoT and Remote O&M. This is the latest forecast in the McIlvaine publication IIoT and Remote O&M.

There is already a substantial market in certain industries such as oil and gas, pulp and paper, and food processing. The IIoT & Remote O&M segment of the market will be growing by 13% per year over the next decade compared to just 3% for the rest of the industry.

There has been a great deal of analysis relative to the convergence of information technology and operations technology. Smart sensors, open platforms and improved data analytics are creating the equivalent of millions of continually updated white papers on the performance of individual components, sub systems, and systems. The use of subject matter experts has typically been addressed without regard to the importance of innovation.

This avalanche of white papers is going to justify an army of experts each able to focus on a very narrow niche. It is also going to dictate interconnection between individuals at each plant within the organization operating the filtration and separation systems. It is going to dictate interconnection between the end users, associations, and suppliers to an extent commensurate with the increase in available knowledge.

This interconnection is occurring partly through acquisitions. Suez is purchasing GE Water. It has a remote monitoring center in France. It also owns and operates municipal water and wastewater plants throughout the world. It is operating 40% of the municipal plants in Chile. It can monitor centrifuge performance and then add GE Betz chemicals to improve dewatering from the remote monitoring center.

Some industries can light the way for others. Andritz automation has created FiberVision and can remotely measure particle size of the fibers in the pulp slurry in a pulp and paper mill. The system measures other parameters in all the processes and provides guidance for the operators. Andritz is also offering predictive control algorithms to better operate thickeners, flotation devices, and filters in mining applications.

A number of centrifuge suppliers have comprehensive monitoring and control systems. GEA has Wewatch^®. Centrisys remotely monitors 32 key operating parameters and offers to log in and make non-critical adjustments to help optimize the process. Alfa Laval Octopus monitors and controls all aspects of the dewatering process.

A number of the filter vendors are moving forward aggressively in the IIoT space. Mann & Hummel has a new IIoT laboratory in Singapore where it has 10 projects in the pipeline.  Donaldson remotely monitors bulk filtration systems for fuel. Restaurant Technologies monitors fryer filter health in restaurants. Aqua Clear monitors RO and nanofilter systems for industrial and commercial facilities. The Evoqua Wallace & Tiernan division has extensive process monitoring systems with intelligent visualization.

There has been a move to higher efficiency filters for gas turbines. The increased filter cost is justified by lower maintenance. AAF combines remote monitoring with a maintenance package including inventory management. This comprehensive approach provides an opportunity to provide the lowest total cost of ownership.

There are some power generation companies operating hundreds of gas turbines. One company with a large number of gas turbines is BHE Energy. McIlvaine has created a beta site to demonstrate the value of IIoW to empower IIoT. BHE also has coal-fired power plants and wind turbines. So it would have thousands of lubrication systems. A new kidney shaped filter at one of their plants has proved superior in a pulverizer application. Cuno string-wound filters are specified at most of their plants but due to particulate contamination related to air cooling the condensate filter needed to be replaced at one plant with a Pall 25-micron filter. When case histories and the knowledge of the plant operators and suppliers are pooled for a company such as BHE, the impact of IIoT becomes more cost effective.

The IIoT forecasts for filtration along with strategies to help filter companies collaborate with other players are provided at: N031 Industrial IOT and Remote O&M

This opportunity will be discussed in an hour long webinar on March 30. To register click on Weekly IIoT Webinars

Market reports on individual filtration and separation subjects are found at: Markets

Decision systems to support filter IIoW are found at

4S01 Berkshire Hathaway Energy Supplier and Utility Connect
44I Coal Fired Power Plant Decisions

59D Gas Turbine and Reciprocating Engine Decisions