Water treatment
Until about 100 years ago, most natural water was potable and easily usable for human activities, often without any treatment. Today, this is no longer the case because of pollutions linked to industrial development. Water pollution is increasing and more and more pollutants are found in water.
The speed with which we have put such a precious resource at risk has a direct consequence on the development of water treatment, distribution techniques and related services.
Additionally, although raw water quality is getting poorer, demand is increasing even faster than the growth in world population. Developed countries citizens currently utilize, on average, around 200 liters per day, while in developing nations, it is less than 50 liters per day. The race for a better standard of living is also a race for water!
As a result, water treatment and distribution companies benefit from huge and steadily growing markets, including many sub-sectors related to specific situations or parts of the treatment process.
When relatively low technologies are used, scale merit is important and a larger company may increase economical competitiveness. For some other sub-sectors, such as industrial waste water treatment, or highly pure water production, the competition lies more at the technical level. Here small specialized companies can be very successful.
Furthermore, energy saving needs creates a demand for new chemicals which allow such a reduction. A small number of companies, with high technical level and strong R&D are targeting this growing market segment.
Water challenges can be divided into:
2.1 Low chemical & low energy treatment oriented, further details of which are outlined below:
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Drinking water production and supply techniques are relatively simple in their principle; settling tanks and sand filters. Gradually, R&D has been oriented towards more reliable systems, using fewer chemicals and producing less waste (sludge). The strengthening of the quality standards, in particular with respect to pesticides, has resulted in a push for new and sophisticated techniques. In parallel, the IT revolution has enabled smaller, automated plants to become more reliable and competitive. A developed technique, membranes, has proved a real breakthrough with numerous new applications.
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Urban waste water treatments are biological and present R&D issues focus on the global efficiency of the process, i.e. the percentage of pollutants actually eliminated within an acceptable cost. There is also a need to develop better equipment to eliminate nitrogen or phosphorous.
2.2 Sophisticated treatment (process water, heavily polluted waste water)
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Industrial waste water characteristics are closely related to the process from which it originates. It is not uncommon to have several different treatment plants in the same factory, in order to optimize the focus on each type of pollution. The necessary removal of particular toxic items may call for narrowly specific techniques. As in other markets, the present globalisation makes it possible for relatively small, but qualified companies, to participate and sometimes dominate the entire world market.
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Sludge treatment is an important and costly part of water treatment. Sludge consists of the pollution extracted from water and includes the chemicals used for treating the water. Usually the cost of efficient sludge treatment is very high, often higher than the water treatment itself. As the regulations become continuously more stringent, the demand for more efficient and cheaper techniques will continue to increase and innovative companies, large or small, will be able to capitalize on the market potential.