The Benefits of Analyzing Each Filter Niche Opportunity

There are more than one million niches in the filtration market. There are many types of filters for water, liquids, air, and gases to remove contaminants or to create a product. Particulate removal requirements may range from 0.1 to 200 microns. Purification of flue gas to remove sulfur gases is measured in tons per day whereas just a few parts per billion can cause noxious odors.

Mobile vehicles and equipment represent a big market. There are hundreds of industrial niches. Each has multiple processes and unique filtration needs. Residential and commercial applications are numerous. Suppliers offer systems, filtration equipment, components, filter media, and fibers.

Each niche should be analyzed, and the best aggregation selected.

The value of analyzing each niche is undeniable. But no one has attempted it because of the billions of facts and factors which need to be organized. However, many of the facts and factors shaping one niche are shared by many other niches. So, an organized approach provides economy of scale.

The level of needed detail is typical of cost accounting. The detailed approach can be used to gather competitor market share information including tracking acquisitions and exhibitor activity. The exhibition investment of each player in each industrial market in each region not only reveals present but future activity. If a company suddenly invests a larger percentage of exhibition dollars in Asia or in the pharmaceutical industry it is a good indicator of the strategy.

Continuous analysis of more than five parameters is needed to identify opportunity changes. General economic changes are reflected in geographic and industry adjustments. They reflect the total market whereas acquisitions and exhibitions along with other data determine changes in present and future market share.

An example of the need for a large number of niche analyses is gas turbine intake filters. There are a range of designs for pre-filtration and final filtration. The optimum selection varies with the climate and turbine type. So, forecasts are based on thousands of facts and factors which need to be constantly reviewed.

The future markets are dependent on gas availability, greenhouse gas regulations, Russian aggression, Chinese policy and other factors which are continuing to change.

Filter media efficiency requirements are a function of the application, turbine type, and ambient contaminants. The requirements for FPSOs are different from other environments. They are also a function of media life, turbine life, maintenance, water costs and other factors.

Category Facts Factors

Media Glass, nanofiber, membranes, nonwovens

Efficiency, maintenance, cost

Filters Pre filters, static, pulsed Leakage, pressure drop, maintenance

Turbines Newer designs

Need for better filtration

Conditions Desert, floating, artic, urban Impact on filter selection

Operations Base load or peak Filter impacts

Influences cost such as pressure drop or cost for travel to an oil rig Opportunity Change

Analyses of split by media efficiency address the following:

It is necessary to maintain a current acquisition database. Major changes in the filtration market took place recently with the purchase of Evoqua by Xylem.

Below are examples of acquisitions in the last few years involving cartridges.

In the case of Donaldson, there has been expansion of the off-road dominance to move into tangential flow filters in biotechnology. Along with the filter acquisitions, Donaldson became a supplier of biopharma process equipment.

Exhibitions (right table): There are many exhibitions where filters are displayed. It is important to analyze this activity. It reveals the strategy of competitors regarding products, applications and locations. Here is an analysis of filtration-related stands at the November 2023 International Filtration Conference.

The program includes new technologies for zero liquid discharge and reuse of produced water, which add new facts and factors, which will change the niche market forecast.

An organized approach to identify each niche opportunity with costs minimized by scale will allow filter companies to achieve both greater share and EBITDA.