Municipal wastewater plants are expected to spend $4.5 billion for valves in 2017, with $3.4 billion of that being for on/off valves and the balance for control valves, according to the report Industrial Valves: World Markets by the McIlvaine Company.
Globe valves are projected to be the leading category with an expenditure of over $1 billion, while China will be the country leader due to its increase in secondary treatment capacity, which McIlvaine says has tripled in the last two decades to over 30,000 MGD.
By contrast, the United States capacity is only 39,000 MGD. And McIlvaine says only 4,000 MGD does not receive secondary treatment, while over 90 percent of the transported sewage receives secondary treatment.
Other countries in the Americas treat anywhere from 31 percent to 79 percent of the transported sewage, leaving the potential for valves for new plants in these regions.
There are 1,900 active projects in the United States and Canada that will require significant valve purchases; however, McIlvaine says many of the projects are to replace or upgrade existing facilities rather than for added capacity.
