Nox Control Market Boom Continues
This year will mark the fourth straight year that the NOx control selective catalytic reduction (SCR) market will surpass $2 billion in sales worldwide. The forecast for equipment sales is $1.6 billion, while catalyst sales will add another $468 million. These forecasts are included in the online continually updated NOx World Markets, published by the McIlvaine Company of Northfield, IL www.mcilvainecompany.com .
Oxides of nitrogen (NOx) react with organic compounds in the atmosphere to form ozone (smog). NOx also reacts with other chemicals to form fine particulate. The health and other environmental benefits of NOx reduction have long been recognized in Europe and Japan, but not until the 1990s did the U.S. embark on a major reduction program. Now China is making a similar commitment.
The result is a world market which is many times larger now than it was a decade ago. It will continue to grow with 2009 sales slated to be over $4 billion, up from $2.1 billion this year.
The biggest opportunity lies with retrofitting existing coal-fired boilers with SCR systems. In the 1999-2001 periods, the big market was SCR for new gas turbines. But when the sales of new gas turbines slumped and NOx control regulations were promulgated for power plants east of the Mississippi River, an even bigger market was created.
More than 100,000 MW of coal-fired capacity in the eastern U.S. has now been fitted with SCR equipment. The new Clean Air Interstate Air Quality Rule (CAIR) will cause another 60,000 MW of capacity to be fitted with SCR. Additional SCR in the western U.S. will be required as part of regional haze reduction. When you add to this as many as 100 new coal-fired boilers, all with SCR, the large market will be sustained at least until 2015.
Europe is presently enjoying a booming NOx control market due to European Union initiatives which require NOx reductions by individual member countries and set down conditions for new members.
Within a few years China will have an installed base of coal-fired boilers approaching 400,000 MW. The first few SCR installations are just now being completed. The ozone problem in China is very severe, so the government plans to make major reductions. It is now making big strides in reducing sulfur emissions. NOx is next on the list. The Chinese investment is likely to be greater than the entire European investment over the last 25 years due to the relative size of coal-fired generation capacity in each region.
Municipal waste incinerators, stationary diesel engines, nitric acid plants, cement kilns, and some other processes also require NOx reduction with SCR. However, the size of these other markets including gas turbines represents only 20 percent of the market while coal-fired boilers will account for the remaining 80 percent.
Beneficiaries of this large market include a variety of companies. The system designers such as Alstom, B&W, Babcock, Mitsubishi, Lurgi Lentjes, Fisia Babcock and Foster Wheeler enjoy the largest revenues. On the other hand, the biggest slice of the profits is garnered by the catalyst suppliers including Cormetech (a joint venture of Mitsubishi and Corning), Haldor Topsoe, Babcock Hitachi, Ceram, KWH, Argillon, CRI, IHI, Nippon Shokubai, Hitachi Zosen, Engelhard, and Johnson Matthey.
An alternative to SCR involves injection of urea or other chemicals into the boiler. Fuel Tech, Mitsui Babcock and Mobotec are suppliers of this technology.
There are also opportunities for architect/engineers. Some, e.g. Black & Veatch, have become system designers. Suppliers of ammonia such as Terra and Koch are also generating significant revenues.
For more information on NOx Control World Markets, click on:
http://www.mcilvainecompany.com/air.html#N035 or contact:
McIlvaine Company
191 Waukegan Road – Suite 208
Northfield, IL 60093
Tel: 847-784-0012; Fax: 847-784-0061
E-mail: editor@mcilvainecompany.com