NEWS RELEASE                                   OCTOBER 2011

Liquid Macrofiltration Market to Reach $6 Billion in 2012

The market for liquid macrofiltration equipment and consumables will be just under $6 billion in 2012. This is the new forecast in Liquid Filtration and Media World Markets published by the McIlvaine Company.

                                                  Subject                                   2012 ($ Millions)

Backwash Filter                      $755

Bag Filter                                $745

Belt Filter Press                       $605

Filter Press                              $958

Drum & Disk                          $678

Granular Media Filter           $1,411

Leaf, Tubular & Belt               $826

   Total                                      $5,978 

The largest single segment will be granular media filters. This is despite the market share gained by microfiltration membranes. For traditional particulate removal in municipal drinking water the granular media filter is being passed over for the more efficient membrane solution. However, a number of improvements have been made to allow this device to be used for a range of pollutants.   Denitrification can be accomplished with biologically active coatings. There is ongoing research to also improve the particulate removal. The research involves coating ordinary coarse sand with a nanomaterial called graphite oxide — which can remove five times more impurities than ordinary sand.  The graphite oxide is suspended in a liquid to which the sand is added.  This mixture is heated to ensure the sand is covered and then dried.

There is also a substantial market for granular media filters in pool and spa filtration. However, the commercial and residential segment is not included in this report which is focused on the industrial market.

Belt filter presses and drum filters are increasingly used to dewater sludge. Another growing opportunity involves the drying of biofuels prior to combustion and power generation. Bag filters compete with cartridges for many applications in the food and chemical industry. 

The automatic backwash filter category includes a variety of different designs from nested disks to sintered metal cylindrical cartridges. These filters are automatically cleaned and, therefore, compete with both bag filters and cartridges when the solids content in the liquid to be purified rises.

Gravity belt filters are used when it is desirable to both dewater and wash a product.  In the power industry the gypsum formed by reacting SO₂ with limestone in a scrubbing system is washed to extract the chlorides. The gravity belt filter can produce 90 percent solids at the same time it is effectively washing the chlorides from the gypsum.

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