Report examines resurgent European disinfection market

Oct. 19, 2007 -- Health risks associated with contaminated water and wastewater and water scarcity issues prevalent in Europe are contributing to the growth of the use of disinfection technology. This market segment includes chlorination & dechlorination equipment, UV, ozone equipment and others such as membranes.

Disinfection finds use in municipal water and wastewater treatment plants, industries like food and beverages, chemical, petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals and others. The total European disinfection equipment is estimated to be $485.5 Million in the year 2007 with Central and Eastern European markets currently comprising the highest growth segment.

Exciting Market and Technology Trends
The most significant drivers promoting growth in the European disinfection market include legislative impetus and water scarcity concerns. Growing water scarcity in the European region is making water reuse very necessary. Water used in the industrial processes is being treated and disinfected and reused with treatment systems that are installed within the manufacturing units. Occurrence of serious diseases due to water contamination has made disinfection a necessity. Moreover, EU legislation further boosts the disinfection market by promoting demand for new technologies that can meet the desired standards more effectively.

The European water and wastewater disinfection market shows a large amount of regional variation with the UK and Ireland generating a major chunk of the revenue accounting for about 19.2% in the year 2007. Chlorination is still a leading treatment method being used in water treatment systems while the use of UV and Ozonation is expected to continue to increase in the future. The upcoming technologies are UV, ozonation and membrane systems. Nearly 40% of the revenue to the disinfection market is contributed by the municipal drinking water segment.

Disinfection technologies have found multiple uses in water and wastewater treatment systems across Europe. Ozonation is used for multiple purposes ranging from disinfection of water and wastewater, to color, odor and taste removal, iron and manganese oxidation, removal of micro pollutants, by product control and as a coagulation aid. It also finds extensive use in bottled water disinfection. Ozonation can be used in combination with other treatment techniques such as activated carbon, to remove odor in wastewater treatment systems. Of late it is being used in combination with biofilters for higher treatment efficiencies. Ozone reacts with natural organic matter in the water and converts it to BOM (biodegradable organic matter), which are removed using biofilters.

UV systems offer an effective, low cost and environmentally friendly technique and these are typically used in municipal water treatment plants to effectively eliminate microbial population. It is used in combination with RO systems to increase the lifetime of the membrane by removing the bio films formed on them. UV equipment also finds use in destruction of the residual ozone used for disinfection of tanks, pipelines etc as well as the residual chlorine and chloramines used in chemical treatment of water. Domestic UV treatment units are also gaining wider popularity as they help purify, remove color and odor from the water being used.

Fast Growing Technologies
It is further anticipated that the UV and ozonation markets are likely to experience the fastest growth over the long term in the disinfection market. This is because the conventional chemical treatment method, though effective, has the disadvantage of generating harmful side effects due to sometimes high levels of residual chlorine in municipal drinking water. Chlorination as a treatment method can be used in the paper and pulp industry but is not a desirable method for other industrial process water treatment. UV and Ozonation on the other hand have no such disadvantages and hence are gaining popularity. Moreover increasing awareness levels regarding water disinfection among people has led to the increased use of domestic/household water treatment equipment. Use of this equipment solves the color, odor and taste problems associated with drinking water. Changing lifestyles and increasing purchasing power of people is also contributing to growth of this segment in the disinfection market in Europe.

Between these two technologies, the UV treatment equipment market is expected to grow more than the Ozonation market due to lower equipment prices. The UV treatment market is estimated to be around $149.2 Million in 2007. Germany, the UK, Irish and Italian markets contribute to 53% of the total UV treatment equipment market. The ozonation treatment market is estimated to be $90 million in 2007. The ozonation equipment market is particularly strong in France and the UK.

Technology Developments and Conclusions
Innovations are taking place in the UV treatment systems sector in order to improve their performance efficiencies. Computational fluid dynamics modeling is the latest technique being used to create optimized UV systems which will be available in the European markets in the next few years. The advantage of using these optimized reactors is to optimize UV dose delivery and reduce energy costs. More advanced energy sources are being researched namely Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) and microwaves. Their use will increase the lamp life and energy output.

These technological improvements will increase the disinfection efficiency, lifetime of the UV system and reduce energy costs. It is foreseen due to these advantages that the UV systems will have an edge over the ozonation equipment in the market over the next few years.

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Also see:
-- Stringent Environmental Regulations Give a Leg Up to the Industrial Water Treatment Chemicals Market
-- South African Industrial Water and Wastewater Treatment Equipment Market Growing
-- Water Issues in Southern and East Africa Kindle Interest in Desalination
-- Higher Accuracy Requirements Drive Demand for Metering Pumps
-- Value-Added Services Critical in the South and East African Water and Wastewater Chemical Treatment Markets

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