Stringent Energy Efficiency Norms that Necessitate Adoption of Better Heat Transfer Practices to Benefit Adoption & Upgrades of Cooling Towers

The global market for Cooling Towers is projected to reach US$5.1 billion by 2024, driven by technology innovations aimed at water conservation; stringent energy efficiency norms that necessitate adoption of better heat transfer practices in industrial plants; and recovery in industrial activities in sectors such as power generation, manufacturing, mining, and food processing.

Process heat management is a crucial aspect of industrial manufacturing, production and also energy generation activities. All manufacturing plants and utilities utilize steam, hot water, and other heat systems in production. From plastics manufacturing, rubber molding, chemical plants, food production to energy generation and everything else in between, activities such as fluid heating, calcining, drying, heat treating, metal heating, metal and non-metal melting, smelting, agglomeration, curing and forming etc., are commonplace and require generation of heat. Effective temperature control is therefore vital in processing industries to ensure adequate product quality and reduce production costs. Excessive heat generation not only pushes up energy bills but also results in equipment damage. Similarly, lower than required heat can result in poor product quality. Heat transfer, is defined as the science of thermodynamics and quantitative rearrangements of energy between hot and cold bodies. A cooling tower heat exchanger, in this regard, is used to remove excess heat and maintain healthy temperature of production equipment to ensure optimum process optimization as well as equipment health.

In the energy industry, cooling tower is the “Icon” of energy generation. While the changing energy mix towards renewables like wind power and solar power throws undeniable challenges, these heat transfer and cooling structures will nevertheless remain very much an important part of the energy industry for as along as coal is used as the prime fuel source for base load power. The huge installed base of cooling towers worldwide will attract considerable replacement demand which will be amplified by new construction technology, material innovations and increased need for upgrades. Existing and aging industrial cooling towers are not equipped to handle new industry regulations that require a lower drift rate of 0.0005%, which opens up replacement opportunities. New environmental regulations will therefore push up replacement opportunities for complaint cooling towers. The manufacture of cooling towers necessitates the use of special materials, which are capable of resisting heat emitted during the process. These materials must also be capable of withstanding corrosion and resisting water-borne bacteria. Technology innovations have always been crucial for the market growth and will continue to be so in the coming years as well. New technologies that help lower ownership cots, improve performance and durability, and drive energy efficiencies, represent key differentiating factors for manufacturers to compete in the marketplace and expand to new application markets. Reduced emission and pollution also remains a key R&D focus area, given the environmental and health concerns such as risk of Legionnaires’ disease due to plumes released by evaporative cooling towers. To address these environmental and health issues, companies are researching new structural adaptations in design and features to comply with the changing regulatory norms. The focus is therefore on new construction materials and lower winter plume emission. Plume abatement cooling towers will grow in popularity. Manufacturers are therefore focusing on the development of next generation designs in response to customers need for reduced installation and maintenance load, higher cooling efficiency, quiet tower operation, lower corrosion risk, and energy efficiency in terms of lower fan power per ton of cooling. Cooling towers with factory wired control systems are expected to grow in popularity given their ability to reduce electrical subcontracting costs. Innovation is designs include hybrid cooling towers; crossflow tower designs for over 55% more cooling capacity per cell; induced-draft counterflow closed-circuit fluid cooler; and electronically commutated (EC) direct drive fans that eliminate the need for separate variable frequency drive motor; among others.

As stated by the new market research report on Cooling Towers, Europe and the United States represent the largest markets worldwide. Asia-Pacific ranks as the fastest growing market with a CAGR of 6.2% over the analysis period led by stable economic performance; well established industrial base in countries such as China, India, Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan; massive urbanization and industrialization; rapid development of commercial real estate and the resulting new demand for building HVAC cooling towers; and continuous technology advancements that encourage investments in periodic upgrades.

Major players in the market include B&W SPIG, Baltimore Aircoil Company, BELL COOLING TOWERS, BERG Chilling Systems, Inc., Brentwood Industries, Inc., Composite Cooling Solutions, Cooling Tower Depot, Inc., Cooling Tower Systems, Inc., Delta Cooling Towers, Inc., Enexio, ENGIE Refrigeration GmbH, Evapco, Inc., Evaptech, Inc., HAMON SA, Ilmed Impianti Srl, International Cooling Tower, Kelvion Holding GmbH, Liang Chi Industry (Thailand) Co., Ltd., Mesan Cooling Tower Ltd., Paharpur Cooling Towers Limited, REYMSA COOLING TOWERS, INC., Ryowo Holding Co., Ltd., SPX Cooling Technologies, Inc., Star Cooling Towers, Superchill Australia Pty Ltd., and Thermal Care, Inc. among others.

The research report titled “Cooling Towers: - Market Analysis, Trends, and Forecasts” announced by Global Industry Analysts Inc., provides a comprehensive review of market trends, issues, drivers, mergers, acquisitions and other strategic industry activities of global companies.  The report provides market estimates and projections for all major geographic markets such as the U.S., Canada, Japan, Europe (France, Germany, Italy, UK, Spain, Russia and Rest of Europe), Asia-Pacific (China, and Rest of Asia-Pacific), Latin America and Rest of World. End-use industries analyzed in the report include Air Conditioning/HVAC, Heavy Industrial & Utility, Chemicals & Petrochemicals and Others (include Food & Beverage Processing, Paper & Pulp, Plastic Processing, and Pharmaceutical Industries among Others).

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