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Weekly selected highlights in flow control, treatment and combustion from the many McIlvaine publications.

• Briefs
• Forecasting Valve Purchases by Specific Chemical Companies
• Top 25 Pharmaceutical Companies will buy 45 Percent of Cleanroom Consumables

Briefs

Coal Fired Webinar: The webinar last week focused on the large market for flow and treat product replacements but also on the potential for suppliers of valves, pumps, filters, nozzles, scrubbers and other components to offer IIoT packages with net edge technology.  Scott Affelt of XMPLR explained how the net edge can operate the device more quickly than the cloud but also communicate with the cloud to integrate the device with the rest of the process management system. You can view and listen to the presentations at https://youtu.be/NIHO2uRFTdY

May 23 Gas Turbine Webinar: An update of the webinar conducted on February 2, 2017 will cover the markets and projects for gas turbine and reciprocating engine systems and components worldwide.  The impact of IIoT and the booming third party remote monitoring and O&M will be analyzed. There will also be coverage of Gas Turbine Decisions and challenging issues such as desuperheater reliability and maintenance.  To register click on  Free Market Webinars

Forecasting Valve Purchases by Specific Chemical Companies

Advanced forecasting of valve purchases can be obtained for each chemical plant and each corporation based on plant capacity. The investment for new products, replacement products and repairs can all be related to projected and existing capacity.

Olin can be used as an example. Olin is now the world's largest chlorine manufacturer after the merger of chlorine operations from Dow. 

Olin is shutting down 433,000 metric tons of annual chlorine capacity across three U.S. plants. The company has reduced chlorine output at its Niagara Falls, N.Y., plant. The company closed chlorine production at its Henderson, NV., facility, which was reconfigured to make bleach and distribute caustic soda and hydrochloric acid. The biggest decrease came at Dow's former chlor-alkali plant in Freeport, Texas, which saw a decrease of 220,000 metric tons of production, about 7% of the site's capacity.

The remaining chlorine producing sites are Augusta GA, Charleston TN, Freeport TX, Lemont IL, Niagara Falls NY, Russellville AK and Santa Fe Springs CA.

The same procedure can then be repeated for other corrosive chemicals and forecasts. The top 30 chemical companies are not necessarily the top purchasers of lined, plastic or high alloy stainless valves. The following companies are all significant purchasers of corrosion resistant valves.

This group includes the top companies in the chlorine, TDI and MAP, DAP segments.  Exxon is the seventh largest purchaser of valves in the chemical industry (their oil, gas and refining purchases are determined separately). However, they are not a major player in production of the three major corrosive chemicals.

Forecasts need to be updated continuously.  For example, Agrium and Potash Corp have merged to form Nutrien.

The forecast by total valve type can then be divided into control valves and on/off valves. A segmentation by size is also important.

Segmentation by specific process within the plant is necessary for accurate forecasting.  A plant that produces chlorine will have substantial needs for corrosion resistant valves. It may also use seawater for cooling and need corrosion resistant valves for that process as well. Some of the waste streams may be corrosive slurries which necessitate different material choices than clear corrosive liquids. Smaller corrosive resistant valves would be used in the plants power generation system for injection of treatment chemicals into the boiler feedwater system.  If the plant combusts solid fuels, then there may be FGD recycle valves which must deal with up to 20,000 ppm of chlorides.

Pressure, corrosion, abrasion and purity all influence the choice of materials. There is a range of alloys as well as plastic materials from which valves can be constructed.  The lining options include rubber, various types of plastics and hard coatings. Each has its place.

Advanced Forecasting to determine the purchases of a specific product by a specific company in the next year sets the stage for a direct effort by the supplier well in advance of the actual purchase. This effort can result in specifications and decisions ahead of time which greatly improve the order potential. The cost of this type of analysis is no longer prohibitive.  The total purchases by the largest suppliers is already included in N028 Industrial Valves: World Market.

More detailed forecasts by valve type, materials and sizes for each purchaser can be supplied through a custom report.  For more information contact Bob Mcilvaine at rmcilvaine@mcilvainecompany.com or 847 784 0012 ext. 112This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Top 25 Pharmaceutical Companies will buy 45 Percent of Cleanroom Consumables

Consolidation and international expansion are resulting in the concentration of decision making about cleanroom consumables.  The top 25 pharmaceutical companies will purchase 45 percent of cleanroom consumables in 2020. The top three will purchase more than 10 percent of the total. The top 100 pharmaceutical manufacturers will make 70 percent of the purchases.

The semiconductor industry is both a large cleanroom consumables purchaser and even more concentrated than the pharmaceutical industry.  The concentration in numbers of purchasers is offset by the increasing dispersion of geographical consumption.  The largest generics investment has been in Asia.  The semiconductor cleanroom activity in China, Taiwan, Korea and a number of Asian countries has grown faster than in Europe and the U.S.

World Cleanroom Markets forecasts the purchases of hardware and consumables for each country and in each industry. The forecasts of purchases by major customers is a new addition.

For more information click on N6F World Cleanroom Markets

Data on cleanroom operators and projects is found at 80A World Cleanroom Projects

A 5-step program to pursue hardware and consumables opportunities is outlined at www.mcilvainecompany.com

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