Industrial Pump Sales to Exceed $7 Billion in 2019

Sales of industrial pumps in the US will exceed $7 billion in 2019, according to a forecast by McIlvane Company in Pumps World Market, as reported by Pollution Engineering.

Pumps included in the forecast include centrifugal, diaphragm, reciprocating and rotary. Of the four types, centrifugal pumps are expected to capture the largest part of the market with projected sales of $7,102 million — more than three times the amount of the market share of the other three pump types combined.

Centrifugal pumps are used to move water, liquids and slurries, and can range widely in size. Slurry pumps that handle calcium sulfite slurries in power plant scrubber systems are able to move in excess of 60,000 gallons per minute, and a large power plant could potentially have four or more of these type of pumps.

Sales growth of industrial pumps in the US is partly the result of the low cost of natural gas and because a number of new chemical plants are under construction. In addition, many power companies are investing in gas turbine combined cycle plants, and pumps are required for such things as boiler feedwater, fogging nozzles, ammonia injection, wastewater treatment and cooling water.

Manufacturers of fertilizer are also taking advantage of low-cost energy, with Yara and BASF announcing a joint venture to build a large ammonia plant in the US.

Pump sales are also being driven by the export of gas, with liquefied natural gas plants and a large gas-to-liquids plant in the planning stage.

Another area driving pump demand is the hydraulic fracturing of shale, which requires pumps that can move slurry to depths in excess of one mile under the earth’s crust at pressures suitable for shale manufacturing.

Photo credit: Factory pump via Shutterstock