Scrubber Market - Growth, Trends, and Forecasts (2020 - 2025)

The scrubber market is expected to register a CAGR of more than 5.2% over the period of 2020-2025. Factors, such as rising concerns on air pollution, coupled with increasing awareness about air quality control systems or solutions, are expected to increase the demand for scrubbers during the forecast period. However, the shutdown of coal-fired power plants in major countries across the world, along with the increasing share of renewables in the power generation mix is expected to restrain the growth of the market studied.

• The cement industry is expected to be the fastest-growing end-user industry, owing to the rising demand for scrubbers to control emissions from the cement manufacturing plants.
• Until 31st December 2019, for ships operating outside Emission Control Areas, the limit for sulfur content of ships’ fuel oil is 3.50% m/m (mass by mass). The 0.50% m/m limit has been applied from 1 January 2020. This, in turn, is expected to create a significant amount of opportunities for the scrubber system manufacturers and suppliers in the coming years.
• Asia-Pacific dominated the global scrubber market in 2018, with the majority of the demand coming from China, India, and Japan.

Key Market Trends

Cement Industry to Witness the Fastest Growth

The cement industry is one of the major polluting industries. The major pollutants emitted include particulate matter, SO2, and NO2. To ensure compliance with environmental standards by the cement plant operators, the governments of the respective countries conduct inspections in the plant facilities.

• Cement plants mostly use wet scrubbers to reduce the plant’s SO2 emissions. The scrubber treats gasses leaving the preheater and alkali bypass systems.
• The Indian government directed the cement industries to install 24X7 monitoring devices for better monitoring by the center and state agencies. In the United States, the EPA laid the environmental compliance regulations through National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP), which aims to minimize the emissions of asbestos fibers during various activities, including its handling. The induction of such regulatory standards is expected to boost the demand for scrubbers in the cement industry.
• In 2018, global cement consumption reached 5.19 billion metric ton, representing an increase of more than 25% compared to consumption in 2014. Factors such as increasing urbanization and growth in the construction industry across the world are constantly driving the demand for cement, which is resulting in the establishment of more cement plants. This, in turn, is expected to boost the demand for scrubbers, especially the wet scrubbers in the cement industry during the forecast period.

Asia-Pacific to Dominate the Market

Asia-Pacific dominated the scrubber market in 2018 and is expected to continue its dominance in the coming years as well. Factors, such as rising concerns regarding air pollution and strict emission control regulations in major countries, are driving the market in the region.

• China has a set of prohibitions called the national action plan on air pollution. This imposed a nationwide cap on coal use, divided up among provinces so that Beijing (for instance) had to reduce its coal consumption by 50% between 2013 and 2018. The plan banned new coal-burning capacity and accelerated the use of filters and scrubbers in the country.
• Globally, shipping companies are spending billions to fit ships with scrubbers to reduce sulfur emissions from the exhaust fumes of ships that run on heavy fuel oil. In December 2018, Panama-flagged very large crude carrier (VLCC) Bright Pioneer, emerged as the winner for a daily rate of USD 30,000 - USD 32,000 in a tender launched by Indian Oil Corporation in which the company was planning to hire an oil tanker with scrubbers that remove sulfur emissions. A similar trend has been observed in other major countries, such as Japan.
• Moreover, increasing industrial activities due to the flourishing economic conditions across the region have resulted in an increase in air pollution levels. This, in turn, is expected to boost the demand for scrubbers in the major countries of the region during the forecast period.

Competitive Landscape

The scrubber market is partially fragmented. Some of the key players in this market include Thermax Ltd, Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises Inc., Ducon Technologies Inc., Andritz AG, and DuPont de Nemours Inc.

Reasons to Purchase this report:

• The market estimate (ME) sheet in Excel format
• 3 months of analyst support