One of the biggest revenue generators will continue to be the power plant scrubber market, says McIlvaine. Worldwide orders will drop from US$11 billion in 2008 to $8 billion in 2009 and $7 billion in 2010, but revenue for suppliers will reflect the large order level in 2008 through 2010. This is because revenues are generally recorded over a three- to four-year period on each project. Orders throughout the next decade will remain far above the pre-2000 levels.
A similar trend exists for selective catalytic reduction systems for coal-fired power plants. Purchases in China, USA and Europe will be strong. Power plant particulate control sales are likely to accelerate as a result of new fine particle regulations.
Sales of air pollution control equipment for waste-to-energy and biomass power plants will be up, but this will be offset by losses in steel, mining and cement. However, the US stimulus package could offset some of the impact in the cement markets.
Sales of macro filtration equipment for municipal wastewater (including belt presses, sand filters and filter presses) will exceed $700 million in 2009 offsetting some shrinkage in the mining industry. The US stimulus effort will be a substantial boost to sales in the USA and infrastructure plans in most developing countries will continue as planned. Some countries, such as China, will expand their investment to provide stimulus.
Sales of sedimentation and centrifugation equipment (including clarifiers, centrifuges and hydro cyclones) will be down slightly, but the wastewater segment will grow this year by $30 million to over $1 billion.
Cross-flow filtration sales will be up as a result of continued growth in wastewater and desalination. Total sales will exceed $9 billion in 2009 despite slumping sales in the residential reverse osmosis segment. Desalination expenditures in some smaller Middle Eastern countries may slow, but on balance this segment will continue to grow.