REPORT SCOPE
INTRODUCTION
BCC Research has completed a study on the demand for trace element monitoring and control including instrumentation and automation systems for different applications.
Goals of the study were to get an understanding of the installed base, find out user purchasing plans, assess the international trade and determine what problems users are having with their trace element monitoring and control devices. Other goals include understanding relevant legislation and regulations, detecting regional differences in worldwide monitoring and control for trace elements, and providing confirming evidence for the supplier data that is presented in the report. The study gives a critical view of the markets for commercial trace element monitoring and control including demand scenarios for different industrial applications. It assesses the role of trace element monitoring as a tool in enabling the control. It quantifies the demand for trace element monitoring by utilization category, product type, application, and technology, and assesses the relationships between major consumers and producers.
The implementation of a speciation analytical investigation in the industrial domain is simply a question of revenue and expenses. Another type of industrial demand can be created artificially as a consequence of social demands and the resulting legislation. If maximum concentration limit values for certain chemical species known to be hazardous become legally binding, the industry will have to behave accordingly with regard to products, waste, and all other industrial areas concerned. This is rather unwanted in the industrial domain and accordingly the legislative process is often delayed or even prevented.
In the first instance, the analytical need is the decisive criterion for a cost-benefit analysis. Analytical needs are determined by two completely different driving forces that are often even contradictory:
1. Social demands that should be defined in legislation.
2. Industrial demands that are defined by simple economic considerations.
The social demands for speciation analytical investigations are very great since the arguments described in the introduction are evident and clearly visible for both citizens and politicians. A few speciation-related problems have begun to be translated into legislation and will aim for the protection of health, food, environment, and many other fields of life. From this point of view, the cost-benefit analysis clearly shows that the costs for whatever needed analytical instrumentations and its operation are overcompensated by the great benefits from the speciation analytical information.
SCOPE OF STUDY
This report contains:
- An overview of that describes the importance of the trace element monitoring and control industry in relation to the overall global economy, including a brief history and extensive review of major products and applications
- A discussion of the governmental regulatory scene as it applies to trace element monitoring, as well as descriptions of environmental regulation changes and agencies involved
- Offers a detailed analysis of the economics and structure of the industry as well as important competitive aspects
- Market data on segments including chemical/petrochemical, food & drink, pharmaceutical, electric power generation, petroleum refining, oil & gas, and waste disposal, including five-year forecasts to 2011
- A technology chapter devoted to important developments, patents, and funding
- Detailed company profiles for the top 100 players in the industry.
METHODOLOGY
In this report, both historic and current data have been used in the demand analysis. Therefore, the results of the calculations presented here are based on three components: historic analysis of trace element monitoring and control demand in the period 2003 to 2005, estimates for 2006, and forecasted demand for the 2006 to 2011 periods.
BCC Research began by contacting trace element device monitoring and control suppliers to ask what question they would like to have answered in the worldwide survey of end-users. We also used questions that have been asked in previous surveys.
To ensure that we obtain a balanced view of the major geographic regions, we decided to interview an equal number of people in the United States, Europe, and Asia. We therefore interviewed a substantial trace element monitoring and control equipment users in each region. Within the regions, users in the following countries were interviewed:
North America
Europe
- United Kingdom
- Germany
- France
Asia
Rest of the World
- Central & South America and
- Africa & Middle East
All interviews were conducted by e-mail and telephone. In order to conduct the interviews in Germany, France, China, and Japan, the questionnaire was translated into German, French, Chinese, and experienced interviewers fluent in these languages carried out the interviews.
INFORMATION SOURCES
Information sources include trade data (national and international), company publicity literature, conference reports, world trade technical journals and interviews with company representatives.
ANALYST'S CREDENTIALS
Edward Gobina is a Full UK Professor of chemical and processing engineering and has 25 years research and teaching experience in environmental engineering, petrochemical reaction engineering, and catalysis and membrane technology. He has been published extensively, with over 100 relevant publications in international scientific journals. He is a project analyst for BCC Research and has authored 17 BCC Research reports providing the critical links in the entire energy infrastructure chain occasioned from hydrogen to advanced oil and gas exploitation, and biorefinery infrastructure. Professor Gobina is a member of the European Membrane Society (EMS), the North American Membrane Society (NAMS), and the New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS). He is the current director of the Centre for Process Integration and Membrane Technology (CPIMT) within the School of Engineering at the Robert Gordon University in the UK.
