As a follow-up to my last post about the desalination market, I thought those who were actually taking the time to read my blog (the 4 of you), would like to read some bullet points on the regions and factors driving growth in the desalination market.
• Over the next 5 years, the desalination market is poised to double in capitalization to over $16 billion and increase in capacity by over 50 million m3/d.
• The largest market will continue to be the Gulf area. A lack of water resources, growing population and an aging desalination base built during the oil boom period of the 70s and 80s will demand an increase in capacity that will nearly double the current production.
• Greatest growth market will occur in the Mediterranean Rim in the countries of Algeria, Israel, Spain and Lybia.
• China, India and the US markets are set to make the break-throughs into large scale seawater desalination projects.
• The membrane process, particularly reverse osmosis, will continue to take market share from thermal desalination, with 59% of the total new build capacity being membrane based.
• Emerging technologies focussing on novel membrane processes, energy savings and minimization of potential environmental impacts from brine discharge, will assist in driving the growth in market share by membrane processes.
• Energy consumption is the number one cost factor associated with desalination process and technological advancing will be required for the market to continue double digit growth rate.
• As a whole, the desalination industry is unconsolidated, with a large number of small and medium sized players serving different niches. The strongest players can expect strong market growth as well as increases in market share.
One Drop at a Time 