World Activated Carbon

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Worldwide demand for activated carbon is expected to increase more than ten percent per annum through 2016 to 1.9 million metric tons. This high level of growth will be attributable to a variety of factors, though regulatory changes in the US will be the largest single driver. China’s activated carbon market will also grow rapidly as the country begins its twelfth Five Year Plan which includes many provisions to improve water and air quality in the nation. Expanding production of edible oils, packaged beverages, and sweetener will stimulate growth in much of the rest of the world. 

 

The activated carbon market in China will be driven by more than regulation. While implementation of the newest Five Year Plan will bolster activated carbon use in water treatment, gains will also come from increasing consumption by industry, as demand for activated carbon in every major market in the nation is forecast to rise faster than the world average. 

 

Because China’s burgeoning middle class is distrustful of tap water, point of use filtration systems (that utilize powdered activated carbon) are extremely popular. In addition, activated carbon will be used at above-average rates to control pollution from industrial sites, assist evaporative emission control systems in motor vehicles, and take part in pharmaceutical manufacturing. 

 

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) placed into force new Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) in 2011. These rules require drastic reductions in mercury emitted from coal-fired power plants, industrial boilers, and portland cement kilns, among other sources. Activated carbon is widely accepted to be the most economical and effective method for controlling these emissions, and enormous amounts of activated carbon will be needed to capture mercury in flue gases. These, and other, new rules will stimulate rapid growth in US activated carbon demand through 2016, with sales expected to more than double from current levels. 

 

Numerous types of activated carbon are available in the marketplace. The two most popular -- powdered activated carbon (PAC) and granular activated carbon (GAC) -- make up the vast majority of sales in every nation. In 2016, PAC is expected to account for 58 percent of the market total, up significantly from 2011. The US market for activated carbon will demand huge amounts of PAC in 2016, as activated carbon injection systems use PAC for flue gas filtration. [ Online Database ]Additional advances are projected in much of theindustrializing
world, which favors PAC for its ease of use and low cost. 

 

GAC sales will make up 39 percent of the worldwide market in 2016. Favored in Western Europe and, until recently, North America, GAC will lose some market share to PAC as ACI system use expands rapidly. Reactivation services are a rising portion of the global activated carbon industry. Increasing capacity for carbon reactivation will reduce the amount of new GAC needed to fill demand.