NEWS RELEASE                                   DECEMBER 2011

Revenues for Scrubbers, Adsorbers and Biofilters to Exceed $6 Billion in 2012

Revenues for industrial scrubbers, adsorbers, and biofilters will reach $6.3 billion next year. This total excludes a market of equal size in the power industry segment. This is the latest conclusion in the McIlvaine online service Scrubber/Adsorber/Biofilter World Markets.

The largest purchasers of scrubbers include the following industries: pulp and paper, chemicals, metals, mining, waste incineration, refining, and wastewater plants. The latter used scrubbers to remove odors from sewage treatment. 

East Asia will be the biggest market with NAFTA a distant second.

Scrubber Revenues ($ Millions)

World Region                        2012

Africa                                         237

CIS                                             185

East Asia                                 2,268

Eastern Europe                           236

Middle East                               236

NAFTA                                   1,190

South & Central America          459

West Asia                                   425

Western Europe                      1,074

Total                                        6,310

China is the largest producer of steel. Scrubbers are used to capture the dust emitted from basic oxygen furnaces, electric arc furnaces, sinter plants, coke ovens and other emission sources. China produces almost as much cement as the rest of the world combined.  Scrubbers are now starting to be applied to cement kilns to remove hydrogen chloride, SO₂ and other acid gases.

The pulp and paper industry is a major purchaser of scrubbers. Indonesia is a major pulp producer. Many East Asian countries are expanding their pump capacity. East Asia is also the leading purchaser of scrubbers for semiconductor and flat panel applications. Waste-to-energy is now the preferred choice for disposing of garbage in East Asia.  All the new plants utilize scrubbers.

NAFTA is the next largest segment.  Pulp and paper production in Canada and the U.S. is very substantial.  Scrubbers are used on recovery furnaces, lime kilns and for H₂S removal elsewhere in the processes. The new air toxic rules directed at the cement plants will require that scrubbers be installed at over 100 existing plants in the U.S.  The total investment will approach $1 billion. Both wet and dry scrubbers will be utilized.

NAFTA is the largest purchaser of biofilters for sewage plant odor control.  These biofilters are also used to capture odors from food plants.

For more information on Scrubber/Adsorber/Biofilter World Markets click on:http://www.mcilvainecompany.com//brochures/air.html#n008