Abstract
Executive summary
Global water reuse capacity will rise from 19.4 million cubic meters a day in 2005 to 33.7 cubic meters a day in 2010 and 54.5 million cubic meters a day in 2015 -- a 181% increase over the decade.
The largest growth markets will be:
Market Expected additional capacity by 2015 % annual increase China 10,790 +29% MENA 5,589 +12% USA 4,473 +12% Western Europe 3,895 +10% South Asia 3,750 +14%
This expansion reflects the scale of the water crisis facing many regions of the world. In order to achieve the required expansion of water reuse capacity, total capital investment in the sector will top $28 billion. The top five markets in terms of capital expenditure will be:
Market Forecast capital expenditure MENA $7,053 USA $5,636 Western Europe $5,534 China $3,615 Rest of Asia Pacific $1,500
In comparison the global desalination capacity will grow from 30.6 million cubic meters per day in 2005 to 61.7 million cubic meters per day in 2015 -- a 102% increase.
Both the desalination market and the market for water reuse are driven by rising demand for water, and the scarcity of new supplies. The fact that water reuse is expected to grow at a faster rate than desalination is attributable to the following factors:
1) There is strong political support for water reuse in the USA, Europe and Australia. Whereas growing environmental concern about discharges restricts the desalination market, the same concerns drive forward the market for water reuse. 2) Key markets such as China and the Middle East and North Africa have historically had a very limited wastewater infrastructure, both in terms of collection and treatment. Very significant investment in building new wastewater infrastructure in these markets will dramatically increase the availability of wastewater for reuse. 3) The maturity of membrane technologies (including membrane bio-reactors) in the wastewater treatment sector has reduced costs and broadened the scope of the wastewater reuse market. Although advances in membranes have also benefited reverse osmosis (RO) desalination, difficulties in the pre-treatment process (as evidenced by the difficulties at the Tampa Bay desalination plant, and in the reluctance of Gulf markets to
embrace RO) has meant that the desalination market has not fully capitalised on its lower potential costs.
The main draw-back of water reuse is that, with the exception of Namibia, reclaimed or even repurified wastewater is not considered suitable for direct potable use. This has three implications. First it means that water reuse requires a new and separate distribution infrastructure. Second it means that there is often a disjuncture between where wastewater is available for reuse (typically at wastewater treatment plants serving residential areas) and where reclaimed water can be used (typically in agriculture and industry). Third it means that reclaimed water cannot always directly solve a water scarcity issue for a municipal water utility. Instead it is used to free up additional potable water supplies from non-domestic users who have no restrictions on the use of reclaimed water.
These strictures significantly increases the capital costs involved in water reuse projects, particularly where land values are high, and the distance that reclaimed water must travel in order before it can be used is high. The average capital cost of a water reuse project in the USA is $1,208/m3/d capacity, giving it little advantage over seawater desalination. Operating costs are lower, principally because of lower energy costs. Operating costs, estimated to average $0.35/m3 globally, are lower than the operating cost of new desalination projects which is estimated to be in the region of $0.62.
A change in policy to enable direct potable reuse would reduce the operating cost of new water reuse projects by 30%, greatly enhancing the scope of the market.
The main beneficiaries of the expansion in water reuse are membrane manufacturers and process engineers. Anticipation of this growth partly explains recent M&A activity in the water treatment sector including GE Infrastructures purchase of Ionics (which was responsible for the largest water reuse plant in the world at Sulaibiya in Kuwait), Siemens purchase of US Filter ( which was responsible for a number of high profile plants in the US, Australia and Southern Africa) and ITTs purchase of Wedeco
View Cart
