For suppliers of products and services for the air, water and energy industries there are some substantial double-digit growth opportunities. Ten of these have been identified as the most promising by the McIlvaine Company These are ranked based on potential market size.

There is a very large continuing investment in extraction of gas from shale in the U.S. The requirement for hydraulic fracturing two miles underground greatly increases the investment in flow control and treatment products: the U.S. now has access to reserves which could make it a net exporter or at least self sufficient for 30 years. The big unknown is the potential in China and the rest of the world.

China has bigger reserves but they are deeper. There is also a lack of water in the areas where it will be required. Nevertheless, China plans 60 billion m³ of capacity by 2020.

$70 billion will be required to supply 70,000 ships with treatment systems to ensure that ballast water discharges be free of live invasive species. Large investments will also be needed to reduce sulfur and NO_x emissions from the ship stacks.

Power plants and other large water users will accelerate the treatment and use of wastewater. The co-location of municipal wastewater treatment plants and either combined cycle gas turbine or coal-fired power plants will be a popular option. Industrial facilities will increasingly opt to treat and reuse wastewater rather than discharge it. The investment in treatment systems and chemicals for this purpose will be substantial.

Coal-fired power plant operators in China are embarked on a huge program to install DeNO_x systems using selective catalytic reduction. In Europe and the U.S., regulations requiring NO_x reduction on trucks and other vehicles will ensure double-digit growth in this segment. Suppliers of urea and ammonia will benefit from both the stationary and mobile activity.

The new generation involving recirculating tanks and efficient filtration is changing the approach to fish farming. The continuing depletion of wild fish populations is also a driving factor.

The average age of coal-fired power plants in the U.S. is forty years. The efforts to prevent new power plant construction in the U.S. and Europe are forcing operators of existing power plants to modernize. One of the biggest needs is to replace outdated instrumentation and controls and to make the power plants much more efficient.

The remediation of soil and groundwater is becoming a big business in developing countries. It will generate $36 billion in revenue this year.

Small particles are increasingly identified as the most harmful contaminants in air. The resultant legislation will continue to bolster both the mobile and stack gas markets for reduction technology. Fabric filters will replace electrostatic precipitators in many cement and power plants.

Waste-to-energy through combustion of solid wastes or generation of biogas will replace landfill as a disposal method in developing countries. The U.S. is one of the few developed countries which tolerate landfills as a solution.

The short-term outlook for wind and solar has been negatively impacted by the shale gas discoveries and production. Cut throat pricing and oversupply have battered the solar cell manufacturers. Nevertheless, the "renewables" market will weather the storm and again become healthy.

Information on the above opportunities is contained in a number of McIlvaine market research reports. For more information, click on: www.mcilvaine@mcilvainecompany.com.

Operators of industrial boilers, kilns, pulp mills, mines and incinerators are facing huge investments to meet recently passed national regulations and imminent additional regulations by the individual states. The expenditure will exceed $1 billion/yr over the next five years as thousands of projects ranging from $100,000 to $25 million will be undertaken. These projects are identified in the McIlvaine report, U.S. Industrial Emitters. This database covers over 40,000 industrial sources in the U.S.

Three major national rules have been promulgated. They deal with air toxics and affect the cement industry, operators of industrial and commercial boilers, and operators of solid and liquid waste incinerators. There will be extensive investment in fabric filters to capture the toxic metals. In many cases, activated carbon or other chemicals will also be needed to capture mercury. Removal of hydrogen chloride will also be necessary and will generate markets for wet scrubbers. Organics such as the kerogens in limestone used in the cement industry also generate organic toxics and will create a market for thermal treatment technologies.

Several thousand plants will be installing new air pollution control systems but nearly 6,000 plants will be making investments in monitoring and control of process and combustion operations. Mercury and PM mass monitors are very expensive but will only be required for 1000 plants. However monitors for CO, and O₂ will be required at many plants.

It is likely that rules will be promulgated by individual states which will force the addition of NO_x, SO_x and particulate matter reduction equipment. This is in addition to that required by the national standards. The states are required to take whatever actions are necessary to bring the ambient air quality to a level specified in federal regulations already promulgated. It will be more cost effective and politically acceptable to require larger industrial facilities to cut their emissions by fifty percent then it will be to impose limitations on lawn mowers, grills and the like.

Even though many areas are in attainment with ambient standards, they are upwind of areas which are in non-attainment. These attainment areas will be subject to lawsuits by the downwind areas. The end result is that equipment will be required at many locations and not just within the non-attainment areas.

The discovery of large quantities of shale gas and the resultant low price of natural gas will ensure the stability and even modest growth in the U.S. industrial base. As a result, the vast majority of plants will make the necessary expenditures to remain in business.

For more information on U.S. Industrial Emitters, click on:

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