NEWS RELEASE                                   SEPTEMBER 2011

Liquid Macrofiltration Market to Exceed $6 Billion Annual Revenues Next Year

The market for filtration and equipment classified as “macrofiltration” will exceed $6 billion next year up from $5.6 billion this year.  Of this total, $4.6 billion will be equipment and $1.4 billion of the revenues will be generated from media and cloth sales. Macrofiltration is distinct from cartridges in that macrofiltration devices such as filter presses, gravity filters and belt filters handle heavy solids and are continuously cleaned.  There is somewhat of a grey area because bag filters are also included in macrofiltration.  This category is distinct from cross-flow membranes such as reverse osmosis because the particles removed are much larger.

The biggest single market for liquid macrofiltration is municipal drinking water.  Until recently almost every municipal drinking water plant used gravity filters for particle removal. Now there is competition from microfiltration. Filter presses or other dewatering equipment are used to separate the water from the alum sludge.  This is the latest forecast in Liquid Filtration and Media: World Markets.

Macrofiltration Revenues ($ Millions) 

Industry                              2012

The mining and the power industries are major uses of gravity belt filters.  The dewatering of flue gas desulfurization gypsum is a high growth segment.  Recessed chamber filter presses and drum filters are used to recover valuable products in mining operations. Media consumption is substantial due to replacement rates as high as weekly.

Municipal wastewater plants typically use belt filter presses to dewater sewage sludge. The chemical industry is a big user of filter presses for process separation of fine chemicals.

For more information on Liquid Filtration and Media: World Markets, click on: http://www.mcilvainecompany.com/brochures/water.html#n006