Water & Wastewater Treatment Chemicals: Global Market Scenario, Trends, Opportunity, Growth and Forecast, 2020-2030

Market Definition

Chemicals that are used in the process of removal of suspended solids, viruses, fungi, bacteria, algae and minerals are called as water treatment chemicals.

Market Insights

Worldwide, the industrial and municipal sectors are expanding healthily. An increase in the demand for goods and services immediately affects the industrial sector, and an increase in population also influences demand in the municipal sector. Due to the COVID-19 effect, there will be a considerable drop in crude oil prices in 2020. Additionally, supply chain interruptions will have an influence on municipal consumption, which will slow YoY price rise for 2019–2020. Due to supply chain delays brought on by COVID-19, the volume of water treatment chemicals consumed during the past year decreased slightly.

Over the next seven years, there will be a large increase in the amount of water that end-use industry sectors like energy, mining, chemicals, pulp & paper, food & beverage, textiles, and leather tanning consume and discharge into water bodies. It will increase demand for chemicals used in water treatment. Additionally, the municipal sector is expanding as a result of population increase. The municipal sector is a prominent one in terms of water treatment chemical consumption due to its crucial functions of providing treated drinking water and treating municipal garbage.

Additionally, the industrial and municipal sectors must effectively treat pre-use water to improve the quality of process and drinking water, as well as wastewater to ensure that near-to-completely sustainable solutions are met. These solutions should support the circular economy by encouraging water reuse, reducing harmful contaminants in wastewater, reducing environmental impact, and enhancing nutrient recovery.

The aforementioned tendency promotes the creation of eco-friendly, high-performance chemicals, which attract higher costs and increase revenue. Around the world, there is increasing regulatory rigour on the treatment and disposal of water and wastewater. Increasingly strict regulatory restrictions regarding the standards for any liquid waste products discharged into the environment are a result of the global shortage of freshwater. Many municipal organisations and businesses that need to treat their water and wastewater look to their effluent treatment plants (ETPs) for zero or minimum liquid discharge (ZLD or MLD) solutions. It will support their efforts to conserve water, reuse water as part of a circular economy programme, and dispose of liquid waste as little as possible.

Furthermore, significant investments in ZLD have been made during the past five years in Europe, the US, Canada, China, and India, in that order. ZLD system sales are expected to increase by 50% by 2025 from the estimated $6 billion global sales in 2021. ZLD systems make it possible to produce waste that is entirely dry, solid, and crystallised, which reduces pollution, satisfies strict standards, encourages sustainability, and helps to prevent water-borne illnesses.

This solid trash was traditionally landfilled. These solid waste materials are currently burned in incineration plants to recover electricity. However, it is anticipated that this waste will be used more frequently in the future as a source of recoverable minerals. The market for ZLD systems will expand, which will increase demand for the water treatment chemicals used in these systems to treat wastewater and ultimately drive market growth during the next seven years.

The US and Canada’s respective national markets for wastewater treatment and disposal are distinguished by strong regulatory standards, which will support market expansion. Additionally, the Americas are well-represented in global manufacturers’ supply networks, which results in a strong regional supply chain and supports market expansion. A growing understanding of sustainable water treatment is being observed among stakeholders in key LATAM markets in order to address the region’s water crisis and scarcity challenges while also recovering energy and minerals. Over the next seven years, market expansion will be fueled by global majors expanding their footprint in LATAM.

Market Dynamics: Drivers

Rising Demand for Potable Water and the Treatment of Industrial, Municipal, and Domestic Wastewater

People lack access to clean and safe drinking water in many areas. Data from the 2020 WHO and WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation show that unsafe drinking water is a problem in several African nations, including Ethiopia, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Uganda, and Kenya. Access to clean water is also seriously lacking in China, Indonesia, and South Asian nations like India and Pakistan. The management of wastewater treatment systems and infrastructure in urban, agricultural, and industrial settings needs to be improved, since it seriously threatens the health of people, plants, and marine life. In order to ensure human health and safety as well as nutrient recovery, governments of various nations are concentrating on developing and enforcing rules that require the sufficient treatment of pre-use water and wastewater effluents and sludge. A common technique for treating water and wastewater is chemical treatment. Over the next seven years, the market will develop due to government initiatives, public and industrial awareness campaigns, and increasing demands for municipal and industrial water and wastewater treatment due to population and industrial growth.

The Adoption and Implementation of Stringent Regulations by High-growth Economies will Fuel the Demand for Water Treatment Chemicals

The last few years have seen a global decline in freshwater resources as a result of urbanisation, climate change, and rapid industrialization. The circular economy strategy is needed to appropriately treat wastewater from industrial and municipal activities to enable water reuse by restoring its quality due to the declining availability of freshwater.

Governments in high-growth economies, like those in China, India, Southeast Asia, and Latin America, are currently formulating more stringent regulatory rules for the management of water and wastewater, which will increase demand for water treatment chemicals. As a circular economy through ZLD and MLD, recycling wastewater for agriculture and other uses, nutrient recovery from wastewater sludge, and optimal chemical use continue to be the key focus areas for governments, Europe and North America are leaders in strict regulations, followed by Japan and Australia. Aside from the federal US EPA laws managing water standards, regulations in the US are state-specific. For instance, the California State Water Resources Control Board and other states with notable water scarcity are enacting more regulations for the treatment and disposal of water and wastewater, including the use of chemicals, which increases the demand for water treatment chemicals.

Such favourable regulatory circumstances will drive market growth over the coming years.

Market Dynamics: Challenges

Rising Penetration of Non-Chemical Water Treatment Processes

All water treatment end-use sectors can use non-chemical procedures, which have been in place for more than a century and are particularly effective at preparing water for cooling towers and boilers. These techniques enable engineers, operators, and owners to swap out corrosive, hazardous chemicals with physical or mechanical processes thanks to incentives to “go green.” These procedures assert that they deliver comparable or even better results than conventional chemical treatment techniques, frequently with less environmental, health, and safety risks. It has been found that the chemicals used in water treatment to prepare water for use in cooling towers and boilers are highly corrosive and poisonous. As a result, non-chemical water treatment methods like ozone, UV, magnetic, and electrostatic treatments are becoming more popular. Additionally, there has been a global rise in interest in water conservation as a sustainability endeavour. The industry is thus concentrating on reducing chemical discharge into the environment and the requirement to limit human exposure to dangerous chemicals. In the water treatment business, the trend manifests as a preference for non-chemical water treatment techniques. Non-chemical treatments will continue to have limited popularity, though, as they frequently cost more or work less effectively than chemical treatments. Consequently, the former’s negative effects on the demand for water treatment chemicals will be minimal.

Market Segmentation

• Based on Source, the Global Water & Wastewater Treatment Chemicals market is segmented into
  • Synthetic
  • Bio-Based
• Based on Application, the Global Water & Wastewater Treatment Chemicals market is segmented into
  • Boiler Water Treatment
  • Cooling Water Treatment
  • Raw Material Treatment
  • Wastewater Treatment
  • Water Desalination
  • Others
• Based on Type, the Global Water & Wastewater Treatment Chemicals market is segmented into
  • Coagulants
  • Flocculants
  • Activated Carbon
  • pH Conditioners
  • Disinfectants & Biocides
  • Scale & Corrosion Inhibitors
  • Antifoams
  • Others
• Based on End Use, the Global Water & Wastewater Treatment Chemicals market is segmented into
  • Municipal
  • Industrial
    • Pulp and Paper
    • Oil & Gas
    • Food & Beverages
    • Power
    • Pharmaceuticals
    • Semiconductor
    • Chemicals
    • Metal and Mining
    • Others
• Based on Water Type, the Global Water & Wastewater Treatment Chemicals market is segmented into
  • Water
  • Wastewater
• Based on Geography, the Global Water & Wastewater Treatment Chemicals market is segmented into
  • North America
  • Europe
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Latin America
  • Middle East & Africa

All market revenue has been given in US Dollar, while the market volumes are given in tons.

Historical Year: 2020-2021
Base Year: 2022
Estimated: 2023
Forecast- 2024-2030

Key Questions this Study will Answer

• What are the key overall market statistics or market estimates (Market Overview, Market Size- By Value, Market Size-By Volume, Forecast Numbers, Market Segmentation, Market Shares) of Global Water & Wastewater Treatment Chemicals Market?
• What is the region wise industry size, growth drivers and challenges key market trends?
• What are the key innovations, opportunities, current and future trends and regulations in the Global Water & Wastewater Treatment Chemicals Market?
• Who are the key competitors, what are their key strength and weakness and how they perform in Global Water & Wastewater Treatment Chemicals Market based on competitive benchmarking matrix?
• What are the key results derived from the market surveys conducted during Global Water & Wastewater Treatment Chemicals Market study?