Desalination Market Appears Poised for Major Growth

Online, October 10, 2011 (Newswire.com) - The desalination market appears likely to more than triple in size between 2011 and 2020, according to a new market study. The report from SBI Energy is summarized as part of an article by Mike Henley that reviews the current desalination business in the October issue of ULTRAPURE WATER journal. That issue is now available at www.ultrapurewater.com.

The SBI Energy study says that droughts, declining water supplies, and growing water demand should drive the desalination market to change from $12.47 billion in 2010 to as much as $52.4 billion by 2020. These conclusions are part of a 210-page research study entitled, "World Desalination Technologies and Components Market", by N. Lapham of SBI Energy (SBI) (1).

Background
Desalination is an important business in the Middle East and North Africa, Australia, Asia, coastal regions in Europe and the United States (i.e., Texas, Florida, and California), and islands in the Caribbean, and elsewhere that are popular tourist destinations. The global capacity for desalinating water exceeds 59.9 million cubic meters per day produced by more than 14,451 desalination plants as of November 2009, according to Desalination & Water Reuse (2). Overall, there are desal plants in 120 countries, SBI reported. A table in the published article shows the growth in treatment capacities between 1945 and 2004.

Treatment Methods
Desalination began to emerge on a widespread basis in the 1950s with thermal distillation plants. Common types associated with desal over the years are multi-stage flash (MSF), multiple-effect distillation (MED), mechanical vapor compression (MVC), and multiple-effect distillation-thermal vapor compression (MED-TVC). Distillation was the primary technology for desalination plants until the 1970s when membrane technologies became commercially viable. DuPont's Permasep® reverse osmosis (RO) membranes were among one of the first widely used at desal plants.

Whether the technology is based on membranes or thermal distillation, the concern with each is energy consumption. The energy cost for membrane systems comes from the pumps needed to drive the water, while thermal units need energy for heating the water. In most world regions, membrane desal has outpaced the thermal technologies to become dominant in the market because of its lower cost. For both thermal and membrane technologies, efforts are underway to lower energy costs. A table in the published article provides comparative data on the energy demand between membrane and distillation technologies.

Markets
From 2006 to 2010, SBI reported the global desalination market has grown from $8.14 billion to $12.47 billion, a 53.2% increase during the 5-year period. Almost half (47%) of the market is related to equipment and plant manufacturing. The remaining portions are 28% for operations and maintenance, and 25% for support services, according to SBI.

Globally, the top market in terms of desalinated water production is Saudi Arabia, which had a 23% share in terms of value among the top nations in 2010. Other nations listed were the United States (17%), United Arab Emirates (15%), Australia (11%), Israel (9%), Kuwait and Algeria (6% each), China and Spain (5% each), and India (3%).

In terms of treatment technology, the Middle East still largely embraces the use of distillation technologies. Conversely, in most other regions, membrane technologies hold larger market shares. For example, in North America RO technology held a 74% market share in 2010, compared to 19% for MED.

Multi-stage flash sales changed from an estimated $2.32 billion in 2006 to $3.12 billion in 2010. SBI predicts that the MSF market could reach $6.24 billion in 2020, which would double the sales in 2010.

Reverse osmosis. The market for RO equipment in this segment changed from $4.67 billion in 2006 to an estimated $7.73 billion in 2010. The SBI study suggested that the RO equipment market would eventually reach $39.46 billion in 2020.

RO membrane sales are expected to reflect the same growth pattern. Element sales changed from $176.41 million in 2006 to $291.6 million last year. The desalination membrane market is expected to move to $700.68 million in 2015, and double to almost $1.5 billion in 2020, SBI said.

Pumps are an important component in RO systems. This portion of the market associated with desalination is predicted to move from $609.78 million in 2010 to $2.6 billion in 2020. Energy recovery devices is a side market associated with membrane systems. That sector changed from $57 million in 2006 to $96.1 million in 2010, and could near the half billion mark at $421 million in 2020.

In addition to the lead article on the desalination business, the October issue of ULTRAPURE WATER features two articles by Gareth Thomas and Jane Kucera that examine different aspects of reverse osmosis water treatment. The Back to Basics article by Bill Harfst looks at the use of softened water for use in cooling towers.

ULTRAPURE WATER also offers water treatment books through its on-line bookstore, and also conducts conferences. ULTRAPURE WATER Micro 2011 will be Nov. 2-3 in Portland, Ore. Information about Premier Subscriptions, book orders and conferences is available at http://www.ultrapurewater.com, or by calling 303/973-6700.

References
1. Lapham, N., "World Desalination Technologies and Components Market", market report executive summary, SBI Energy (www.sbireports.com), Rockville, Md. (August 2011).
2. "Total World Desalination Capacity Close to 60 million cubic meters per day". Desalination & Water Reuse, www.desalination .biz (Nov. 8, 2009, accessed September 2011).