June 2013 - Water Market Insights 55

Desalination Market Moving to Reverse Osmosis and Larger Flow Control Expenditures

Nearly 80 percent of the investment in desalination this year will be for membrane treatment as opposed to thermal. The $8 billion which will be spent on membrane systems represents a large market for suppliers of valves, pumps and filtration equipment. This is the conclusion reached by the McIlvaine Company by aggregating forecasts in a number of its water related reports. (www.mcilvainecompany.com)

The investment in the membrane portion will be $2.7 billion. This includes the replacement membranes and modules as well as the new equipment using microfiltration, ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis. The salt is removed in the reverse osmosis system but either microfiltration or ultrafiltration is used to pre-filter the seawater.

The U.S. market is poised to accelerate as cities want a more secure water supply. San Diego has purchased a system from IDE which will be the largest in North America. It will process more than 100 MGD of seawater and produce more than 50 MGD of drinking water. Desalination became attractive to San Diego based on reduced operating cost.

Early desalination membranes removed about 98.4 percent of the salt and required an extra pass through a second array of filters. According to IDE, they cost about $500 each and lasted three years. Today’s filters extract 99.8 percent of salt, cost $350 and can last seven to eight years, making large-scale desalination feasible. Power-saving devices employ leftover brine to spin turbines which, in turn, run pumps cutting energy use by 45 percent.

Of the $5.3 billion, which will be spent for the balance of the membrane systems, pumps, valves and piping represent a big portion. Pumps to move the pure water through the reverse osmosis membranes are major components of desalination systems. Pitting, crevice corrosion and stress corrosion cracking are major challenges in processing seawater and brackish water. Pump companies such as Sulzer and Flowserve address these issues with a range of materials, including super austenitic stainless steels, duplex stainless

steels, bronze alloys, nickel alloys, and Ni-Resist metals along with engineered polymers. Flowserve maintains its own steel, nickel and light reactive alloy foundries.

Reverse osmosis requires high pressures and, therefore, high energy consumption. However, because of some novel pump designs, much of this energy can be and is being recaptured Energy Recovery has a type of pump called the PX Pressure Exchanger which captures hydraulic energy from the high-pressure reject stream of seawater reverse osmosis processes and transfers this energy to low-pressure feedwater with an efficiency of over 98 percent. Because the PX device itself consumes no electrical power, the overall energy consumption of the seawater reverse osmosis process is drastically reduced.

Special valves are needed to contend with the corrosion and pressures. Pentair supplies butterfly and check valves meeting all the requirements. Victaulic has acquired the desalination business of MTS Valves & Technology, which designs and manufactures plug valves for the global desalination market. Victaulic offers a complete line of grooved couplings, fittings and valves for high-pressure desalination and reverse osmosis applications.

Cartridges, sand filters and automatic backwash filters are typically used for pre-filtration. The choice is critical. Plugging problems have caused major problems when the wrong combinations are chosen.

The performance of the systems is dependent on accurate measurement of flow and water quality as well as control of the variables to ensure high water purity at minimum energy consumption. Companies such as ABB, Emerson and Yokogawa provide integrated solutions.

For more information on treatment and flow control expenditures for desalination, click on:

In 2013, Cleanrooms around the world will purchase consumables valued at $7 billion. This represents an increase of $350 million above the 2012 level. East Asia will account for 56 percent of the total. This is the conclusion reached by the McIlvaine Company in its World Cleanroom Markets. (www.mcilvainecompany.com)

World Region	2013
Africa	36
CIS	101
East Asia	3,962
Eastern Europe	36
Middle East	100
NAFTA	1,309
South & Central America	84
West Asia	114
Western Europe	1,250
Total	6,992

Cleanrooms in the semiconductor, pharmaceutical, flat panel, memory, food and other industries must utilize clothing and wipes which will not contaminate the air in the workspace. People are the largest source of contamination. Therefore, the selection of gloves, gowns, shoe wear and other clothing is critical. Furthermore, wipes, swabs, mops, stationery, disinfectant chemicals and other disposable products must not shed particles, off gas undesirable compounds or reduce the sterility of the space.

The growth of cleanrooms in East Asia has doubled that of other regions. Most of the flat panel display manufacturers are now in East Asia. Semiconductor growth has been higher in East Asia than in other regions. The use of cleanrooms to manufacture photovoltaic panels has grown at double-digit rates in recent years. Much of the growth has taken place in China and other East Asian countries.

The suppliers of consumables for cleanrooms include many of the world’s top companies. ITW is a leading supplier of wipes. Kimberly Clark and DuPont are suppliers of the fabrics for gowns. Cantel Medical is a leading supplier of disinfectants. Laundries to clean and purify reusable gowns require expensive cleanrooms where the actual laundering takes place. As a result, a few large companies with multiple facilities capture a significant portion of the revenues. Aramark is a leader along with Prudential Overall.

World Cleanroom Markets also provides forecast of hardware, rooms, employees and cleanroom space.

On Thursday at 10:00 a.m. Central time, McIlvaine hosts a 90 minute web meeting on important energy and pollution control subjects. Power webinars are free for subscribers to either Power Plant Air Quality Decisions or Utility Tracking System. The cost is $125.00 for non-subscribers. Market Intelligence webinars are free to McIlvaine market report subscribers and are $400.00 for non-subscribers.

	2013
DATE	SUBJECT
June 20	Dry Sorbent Injection and Material Handling for APC	Power
June 27	Power Generation Forecast for Nuclear, Fossil and Renewables	Market Intelligence
July 11	New Developments in Power Plant Air Pollution Control	Power
July 18	Measurement and Control of HCl	Power
July 25	GHG Compliance Strategies, Reduction Technologies and Measurement	Power
August 1	Update on Coal Ash and CCP Issues and Standards	Power
August 8	Improving Power Plant Efficiency and Power Generation	Power
August 15	Control and Treatment Technology for FGD Wastewater	Power
August 22	Status of Carbon Capture and Storage Programs and Technology	Power
August 29	Pumps for Power Plant Cooling Water and Water Treatment Applications	Power
Sept. 5	Fabric Selection for Particulate Control	Power
Sept. 19	Air Pollution Control for Gas Turbines	Power
Sept. 26	Multi-Pollutant Control Technology	Power

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