Providing a healthy air quality for workers and employees is one of the crucial working conditions to be running a business operation. Those employees working especially in thermal power and coal power generating plants, chemical processing industry, and cement manufacturing factories generally face several problems related to unhygienic air condition. Rising air quality problems among workers are majorly caused due to the massive release of harmful and toxic pollutants from these industries.

Thus, maintaining a clean environment for the workers in these industries is very important. This ensures their health safety and protects them from negative health effects. Moreover, improving the air quality of a working environment helps increase the overall performance of workers and this, in turn, is expected to lead a cost-effective and highly productive business operation in the long run.

Air quality control systems (AQCS) provide effective solutions to the presence of poor air quality in a working environment of an organization. These systems help in the removal of pollutant and exhausted gases present in the ambient air; thus, improving the overall indoor air quality of factories. AQCS are technologies that provide cleaner air by reducing the presence of flue gases mainly emitted from thermal power plants or coal power generation plants. In other words, these technologies are designed to enhance flue gas treatment, a process that is adopted to clean the pollutants released from the burning of fossil fuels at an industrial facility, a power plant, or power energy source.

Air Quality Control System Dynamics

According to a detailed report by GMR, the global air quality control system market was valued at USD 4,923.3 Million in 2019 and is projected to surpass USD 6,990.4 Million by 2027, expanding at a CAGR of 4.6% during the forecast period. Rising adoption of the technology across thermal or coal power plants and increasing development of innovative devices are some vital factors that drive the market growth.

The market dynamic of the global air quality control system includes the key factors that drive or restrain the market growth. Moreover, it explains the major market trends and opportunities that are expected to boost the market during the forecast period.

  • Drivers

    • Rising demand for air quality control solutions for the treatment of exhausted gases and pollutants is expected to fuel the market growth.
    • Growing demand for power energy from several end-users and the rapid growth of the power generation industry are expected to push the market development.
    • Wide adoption of the technologies across several industries including power generation, cement industry, iron & steel industry, and chemical industry are projected to boost the overall market expansion.
    • Increasing global concern for carbon emission and strict government regulation on the implementation of environment standards are expected to propel the market growth in the targeted years.

  • Restrains

    • High cost of AQCS equipment and rising maintenance cost of the devices are anticipated to hamper the market growth during the analysis period.
    • Rising development of clean energy source that reduces the emission of pollutant gases is expected to impede the market expansion.

  • Opportunities

    • Wide availability and increasing development of innovative technologies of AQCS due to technological advancement are projected to create lucrative opportunities for the market growth.
    • Growing R&D investment from key global players is expected to generate immense growth opportunities of the market in the coming years.

Overview of Air Quality Control System

The global air quality control system market is segmented as types and applications. In terms of types, the market is divided into electrostatic precipitators, flue gas desulfurization, scrubbers, selective catalytic reduction, fabric filters segments. Based on applications, the market is categorized into power generation, cement industry, iron & steel industry, chemical industry, and others segments.

  • Electrostatic precipitators segment is the fast growing market segment:

The electrostatic precipitators (ESP) segment is a fast growing segment and is expected to register a CAGR of 4.7% during the forecast period owing to the wide adoption of the technology across industries especially power generation, cement, chemical, and oil & gas refineries. An electrostatic precipitator is an electronic-based air filtration device that helps remove certain impurities such as dust, soot, and ash from exhausted fumes or smoke before they are realized from the smokestacks.

The unwanted participles collected from the gas stream are deposited in the collector plates of the device and are then removed from the plates using water washing. This is one of the most popular air control technologies due to its collection efficiency and is widely used in majority of the power plants associated with burning fossil fuels such as coal or petroleum.

  • Power generation segment is expected to dominate the market during the forecast period:

The power generation segment is expected to hold a major share of the market during the forecast period owing to rising number of coal-fired power plants and releasing a massive volume of carbon footprints from the plants. The coal fired power generation industry accounted for a large share in terms of power production as coal represents the largest source of energy for electricity generation globally.

In 2019, the coal-fired power generation accounted for more than 40% of the global power production. However, the production of coal-based power generation acts as a major source of air pollutants as it produces high level of several exhausted gases such as nitrogen oxides, mercury, and sulfur-di-oxide. Thus, the adoption of AQCS in the power generation industry is rising significantly as these technologies are able to reduce the emission of these toxic gases, which result in the minimizing the level of air pollution.

Air Quality Control System Performance Outlook

The global air quality control system market is fragmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa to understand the regional market performance as well as the market position held by different key economies in the regions.

  • Asia Pacific is expected to hold a dominant market share during the projected years:

Asia Pacific dominated the global air quality control system market in 2019, accounting for 58.7% of the global market share in terms of revenue. The market in the region is projected to expand at a CAGR of 4.8% during the forecast period owing to the rising development of new industries, impacted by the rapid process of industrialization and urbanization.

Rising growth of the industries including cement production, power generation, and metal & chemical processing sectors in some emerging economies such as India and China are the key factors that are expected to drive the regional market growth. Rapid development of power generation industries, due to massive rising demand for energy in the region, has pushed to increase the demand for AQCS to help reduce toxic gases emission from these industries.

  • North America remains a major market for AQCS

Strict implementation of environmental pollution standard from government regulatory bodies and several government policies regarding the maintenance of clean air are pushing to grow the market in North America. The market development of AQCS in the region is largely stimulated by the US major environment policies that lead to the formulation of several laws related to air pollution control.

The enactment of several environment policies with the initiatives from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ranging from Clean Air Act of 1970 to Barack Obama’s Mercury and air toxics standards (MATS) are major factors that have brought a major shift in the federal government’s role in respect to air pollution control. These policies are aimed to limit toxic pollutants from industrial sources especially the coal-fired and fossil-based power plants. With this development, the market in North America is projected to expand at a CAGR of 4.5% during the targeted period.

Major Key Players of Air Quality Control System 

Some of the key players in the global air quality control system market include Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises, Inc.; Ducon Technologies Inc.; Fujian Longking Co. Ltd.; GENERAL ELECTRIC; S.A. HAMON; Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.; Siemens AG; and Thermax Ltd. These major companies have been widely engaged in various forms of market strategies such as merger & acquisition, collaboration, partnership, product launch, R&D activities, and capacity expansion to increase their market share and global presence.

  • General Electric

In February 3, 2021, General Electric (GE) announced that it has entered into an agreement with BLP Industry.AI to provide a next generation AI technology and asset performance management solutions to wind farm operators. In February 10, 2021, GE has recently debuted LM2500XPRESS* power plant technology that would be implemented in designing Colorado Springs Utilities to help reduce carbon emissions from their electricity service by at least 80% by 2030, from 2005 levels. GE’s Power Conversion business deals with power conversion to help develop technologies and equipment for the electric transformation of the global energy infrastructure.

  • S.A. Hamon

In January, 2021, the Hamon Group announced that it, through its subsidiary Esindus, planned to provide a 3 modules ACC to Transfradelos as an extension project of the existing Probiomass I power plant, which started its operation since 2017 in Portugal. Under the project, the 10 megawatt (MW) biomass power plant aimed to use forest biomass as fuel source that would help saving gas emissions for about 32.500 t/year and reduce the risk of forest fires.

In December, 2020, the acquisition of Esindus by Hamon was completed after working more than 100 years of joint-partnership. Hamon offers various advanced fabric filter technologies such as high-pressure pulse jet fabric filters, reactor fabric filters, medium-pressure pulse jet fabric filters, and low-pressure high-volume fabric filters that can be used for large industrial utilities.

Conclusion

The global air quality control system market has a large growth potential in the coming years owing to the rising demand for air quality control solution from various industrial sectors. According to a data published by WHO, nearly 91% of the global population lives in places that have a higher level of poor air quality from the limit set by the health organization.

According to the data, the organization estimated that the annual death of around 4.2 million people was related to the rising ambient air pollution, which led to cause several health conditions such as stroke, heart disease, lung cancer and chronic respiratory diseases. Additionally, the global shift to environment sustainable concerns coupled with the policies and investments from governments across countries are key driving factors that can fuel the expansion of the market in the long run.