Activated Carbon

Implementation of the US Environmental Protection Agency’s new mercury removal standards will be the single most important factor impacting activated carbon demand through 2017.

US demand to rise 11% annually through 2017

US demand for activated carbon, including virgin and reactivated products sold by activated carbon suppliers, is expected to advance over 11 percent per year to almost 1.3 billion pounds in 2017, with market value reaching nearly $1.35 billion. Implementation of the EPA’s new mercury removal standards will be the single most important factor impacting activated carbon demand through 2017.

Powdered activated carbon to expand market share

Mercury-emitting industrial facilities such as coal-fired power plants, cement kilns, solid waste incinerators, and other plants with large industrial boilers will predominantly turn to activated carbon injection (ACI) systems to meet these requirements. With an ACI system in a large industrial facility consuming up to two million pounds of powdered activated carbon annually, the phase-in of these new rules is expected to have a powerful impact on activated carbon demand, and powdered products will expand their market share to 70 percent of the US total in 2017. As powdered activated carbon is generally not reactivated, sales of powdered activated carbon are expected to remain high even beyond the phase-in deadline for the mercury removal standards.

Compliance with EPA regulations will also boost activated carbon demand in water treatment applications. Demand will increase by over 50 million pounds through 2017 as the EPA’s DBP Rule goes into full effect. While some compliance with the DBP Rule had been achieved by 2012, the final phase-in of the rules will continue to promote growth. The majority of activated carbon used to address DBPs will be granular activated carbon, making water treatment applications the best growth opportunity for suppliers of granular products, both virgin and reactivated.

Many smaller applications use higher value products

Among the smaller uses for activated carbon, motor vehicle applications, including emissions canisters and cabin air filters, will benefit from rebounding US motor vehicle production. Increased pharmaceutical output will promote demand for activated carbon in pharmaceutical and medical applications, such as purity control in pharmaceutical manufacturing. Mining applications will also see gains, as increased processing will be necessary to maximize mine output. An improving economy will promote demand for activated carbon in chemical purification and other industrial processes. Many of these smaller applications use higher-value specialty products, such as activated carbon fiber or cloth and carbon monoliths, boosting demand in value terms despite accounting for a small share of overall volume demand.

Study coverage

This study analyzes the 758 million pound US activated carbon industry. It presents historical demand data for 2002, 2007 and 2012, and forecasts for 2017 and 2022 by type (e.g., powdered, granular), application (e.g., water treatment, food and beverage processing, pharmaceutical and medical, mining, industrial air purification, motor vehicles, solvent recovery), and US region.

The study also considers market environment factors, details industry structure, evaluates company market share and profiles 26 industry players such as Calgon Carbon, Cabot Norit Activated Carbon, and MeadWestvaco.

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  1. Activated Carbon

    $5,300.00

    1. 1 INTRODUCTION

      $131.00

    2. 2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

      $139.00

      1. Table | ACTIVATED CARBON DEMAND (million pounds)

    3. 3 MARKET ENVIRONMENT

      $1,760.00

      1. 3.1 General

        $82.00

      2. 3.2 Macroeconomic Overview

        $163.00

        1. Table | MACROECONOMIC INDICATORS (billion 2005 dollars)

      3. 3.3 Manufacturing Overview

        $155.00

        1. Table | MANUFACTURERS' SHIPMENTS

      4. 3.4 Demographic Overview

        $216.00

        1. Table | POPULATION & HOUSEHOLDS (million persons)

      5. 3.5 Historical Market Trends

        $135.00

        1. Table | ACTIVATED CARBON MARKET, 2002-2012

      6. 3.6 Environmental & Regulatory Issues

        $734.00

        1. 3.6.1 The Environmental Protection Agency & Key Legislation

          $196.00

        2. 3.6.2 Air Pollution

          $259.00

        3. 3.6.3 Water Pollution

          $148.00

        4. 3.6.4 Other Regulatory Agencies & Legislation

          $95.00

      7. 3.7 Competitive Materials & Technologies

        $193.00

      8. 3.8 World Demand

        $88.00

    4. 4 SUPPLY & DEMAND

      $1,592.00

      1. 4.1 General

        $82.00

      2. 4.2 Product Shipments & Inventories

        $82.00

        1. Table | ACTIVATED CARBON PRODUCTION & SHIPMENTS (million pounds)

      3. 4.3 Production Capacity

        $182.00

        1. Table | US VIRGIN ACTIVATED CARBON PRODUCTION CAPACITY BY COMPANY, 2012 (million pounds)

      4. 4.4 Capacity Expansion Activity

        $82.00

      5. 4.5 Reactivation Activity

        $620.00

        1. 4.5.1 Strategic Considerations

          $184.00

        2. 4.5.2 Reactivation Methods

          $82.00

        3. 4.5.3 Reactivation Capacity

          $164.00

          1. Table | US ACTIVATED CARBON REACTIVATION CAPACITY BY COMPANY, 2012 (million pounds)

        4. 4.5.4 Expansion Activity in Reactivation Capacity

          $82.00

      6. 4.6 Foreign Trade

        $311.00

        1. Table | FOREIGN TRADE IN ACTIVATED CARBON (million pounds)

        2. 4.6.1 Imports

          $112.00

          1. Table | US ACTIVATED CARBON IMPORTS, 2008-2012 (million pounds)

        3. 4.6.2 Exports

          $126.00

          1. Table | US ACTIVATED CARBON EXPORTS, 2008-2012 (million pounds)

      7. 4.7 Supply & Demand

        $82.00

        1. Table | ACTIVATED CARBON SUPPLY & DEMAND (million pounds)

      8. 4.8 Demand by Material

        $155.00

        1. Table | ACTIVATED CARBON DEMAND BY MATERIAL (million pounds)

      9. 4.9 Pricing Trends

        $82.00

        1. Table | ACTIVATED CARBON PRICING (dollars per pound)

    5. 5 TYPES

      $1,170.00

      1. 5.1 General

        $151.00

        1. Table | ACTIVATED CARBON DEMAND BY TYPE & APPLICATION (million dollars)

      2. 5.2 Powdered Activated Carbon

        $425.00

        1. Table | ADVANTAGES & DISADVANTAGES OF POWDERED ACTIVATED CARBON

        2. 5.2.1 Production Capacity

          $125.00

          1. Table | VIRGIN POWDERED ACTIVATED CARBON PRODUCTION CAPACITY BY COMPANY, 2012 (million pounds)

        3. 5.2.2 Supply & Demand

          $121.00

          1. Table | POWDERED ACTIVATED CARBON SUPPLY & DEMAND (million pounds)

        4. 5.2.3 Demand by Application

          $82.00

          1. Table | POWDERED ACTIVATED CARBON DEMAND BY APPLICATION (million pounds)

      3. 5.3 Granular Activated Carbon

        $425.00

        1. Table | ADVANTAGES & DISADVANTAGES OF GRANULAR ACTIVATED CARBON

        2. 5.3.1 Production Capacity

          $111.00

          1. Table | VIRGIN GRANULAR ACTIVATED CARBON PRODUCTION CAPACITY BY COMPANY, 2012 (million pounds)

        3. 5.3.2 Supply & Demand

          $82.00

          1. Table | GRANULAR ACTIVATED CARBON SUPPLY & DEMAND (million pounds)

        4. 5.3.3 Demand by Application

          $121.00

          1. Table | GRANULAR ACTIVATED CARBON DEMAND BY APPLICATION (million pounds)

      4. 5.4 Other Activated Carbon Products

        $169.00

        1. 5.4.1 Supply & Demand

          $82.00

          1. Table | OTHER ACTIVATED CARBON SUPPLY & DEMAND (million pounds)

        2. 5.4.2 Demand by Type

          $96.00

          1. Table | OTHER ACTIVATED CARBON DEMAND BY TYPE (million pounds)

    6. 6 LIQUID PHASE APPLICATIONS

      $2,333.00

      1. 6.1 General

        $128.00

        1. Table | LIQUID PHASE ACTIVATED CARBON DEMAND BY APPLICATION & TYPE (million pounds)

      2. 6.2 Water Treatment

        $1,266.00

        1. 6.2.1 Water Withdrawal & Use Trends

          $154.00

          1. Table | WATER WITHDRAWAL & WATER USE (trillion gallons)

        2. 6.2.2 Activated Carbon Demand

          $1,025.00

          1. Table | ACTIVATED CARBON DEMAND IN WATER TREATMENT BY TYPE & APPLICATION (million pounds)

          2. Table | ACTIVATED CARBON DEMAND IN DRINKING WATER TREATMENT BY END USE & TYPE (million pounds)

          3. Table | ACTIVATED CARBON DEMAND IN MUNICIPAL DRINKING WATER TREATMENT BY PRODUCT (million pounds)

          4. Table | ACTIVATED CARBON DEMAND IN RESIDENTIAL DRINKING WATER TREATMENT (million pounds)

          5. Table | ACTIVATED CARBON DEMAND IN WASTEWATER & SEWAGE TREATMENT APPLICATIONS BY PRODUCT (million pounds)

          6. Table | ACTIVATED CARBON DEMAND IN GROUNDWATER TREATMENT & OTHER WATER TREATMENT BY PRODUCT (million pounds)

      3. 6.3 Food & Beverage Processing

        $454.00

        1. 6.3.1 Food & Beverage Industry Overview

          $170.00

          1. Table | FOOD & BEVERAGE INDUSTRY INDICATORS

        2. 6.3.2 Activated Carbon Demand

          $259.00

          1. Table | ACTIVATED CARBON DEMAND IN FOOD & BEVERAGE PROCESSING BY APPLICATION & TYPE (million pounds)

          2. Table | ACTIVATED CARBON DEMAND IN SWEETENER PROCESSING BY APPLICATION & TYPE (million pounds)

          3. Table | ACTIVATED CARBON DEMAND IN OTHER FOOD & BEVERAGE PROCESSING APPLICATIONS (million pounds)

      4. 6.4 Pharmaceutical & Medical

        $225.00

        1. 6.4.1 Pharmaceutical Industry Overview

          $87.00

          1. Table | PHARMACEUTICAL SHIPMENTS

        2. 6.4.2 Activated Carbon Demand

          $116.00

          1. Table | ACTIVATED CARBON DEMAND IN PHARMACEUTICAL & MEDICAL APPLICATIONS (million pounds)

      5. 6.5 Mining

        $194.00

        1. 6.5.1 Mining Industry Overview

          $86.00

          1. Table | NONFUEL MINING MATERIALS HANDLED (million tons)

        2. 6.5.2 Activated Carbon Demand

          $88.00

          1. Table | ACTIVATED CARBON DEMAND IN MINING APPLICATIONS (million pounds)

      6. 6.6 Other Liquid Phase Applications

        $82.00

        1. Table | ACTIVATED CARBON DEMAND IN OTHER LIQUID PHASE APPLICATIONS (million pounds)

    7. 7 GAS PHASE APPLICATIONS

      $1,487.00

      1. 7.1 General

        $112.00

        1. Table | ACTIVATED CARBON DEMAND IN GAS PHASE APPLICATIONS BY APPLICATION & TYPE (million pounds)

      2. 7.2 Industrial Air Purification

        $516.00

        1. Table | ACTIVATED CARBON DEMAND IN INDUSTRIAL AIR PURIFICATION BY APPLICATION & TYPE (million pounds)

        2. 7.2.1 Mercury Removal

          $224.00

          1. Table | ACTIVATED CARBON DEMAND IN MERCURY REMOVAL (million pounds)

        3. 7.2.2 Industrial Gas Stream Treatment

          $109.00

          1. Table | ACTIVATED CARBON DEMAND IN INDUSTRIAL GAS STREAM TREATMENT (million pounds)

        4. 7.2.3 HVAC & Other Industrial Air Purification

          $99.00

          1. Table | ACTIVATED CARBON DEMAND IN HVAC & OTHER INDUSTRIAL AIR PURIFICATION (million pounds)

      3. 7.3 Motor Vehicles

        $446.00

        1. Table | ACTIVATED CARBON DEMAND IN MOTOR VEHICLE APPLICATIONS (million pounds)

        2. 7.3.1 Motor Vehicle Industry Outlook

          $175.00

          1. Table | MOTOR VEHICLE INDICATORS

        3. 7.3.2 Emissions Canister Activated Carbon Demand

          $128.00

          1. Table | ACTIVATED CARBON DEMAND IN MOTOR VEHICLE EMISSIONS CANISTERS (million pounds)

        4. 7.3.3 Other Motor Vehicle Activated Carbon Demand

          $103.00

          1. Table | ACTIVATED CARBON DEMAND IN OTHER MOTOR VEHICLE APPLICATIONS (million pounds)

      4. 7.4 Solvent Recovery

        $255.00

        1. 7.4.1 Recovery & Recycling Outlook

          $97.00

          1. Table | RECOVERY & RECYCLING OF CHEMICALS & METALS (million pounds)

        2. 7.4.2 Activated Carbon Demand

          $116.00

          1. Table | ACTIVATED CARBON DEMAND IN SOLVENT RECOVERY (million pounds)

      5. 7.5 Other Gas Phase Applications

        $156.00

        1. Table | ACTIVATED CARBON DEMAND IN OTHER GAS PHASE APPLICATIONS (million pounds)

    8. 8 REGIONS

      $2,184.00

      1. 8.1 General

        $82.00

      2. 8.2 Regional Trends

        $390.00

        1. 8.2.1 Population Patterns

          $131.00

          1. Table | US POPULATION BY REGION & SUBREGION (million persons)

        2. 8.2.2 Economic Outlook

          $131.00

          1. Table | US GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT BY REGION & SUBREGION (billion 2005 dollars)

        3. 8.2.3 Coal-Fired Electricity Overview

          $94.00

          1. Table | US COAL-FIRED ELECTRICITY GENERATION BY REGION (billion kilowatt hours)

      3. 8.3 Regional Demand for Activated Carbon

        $1,726.00

        1. Table | ACTIVATED CARBON DEMAND BY REGION & TYPE (million pounds)

        2. 8.3.1 Northeast

          $329.00

          1. Table | NORTHEAST ECONOMIC OVERVIEW

          2. Table | NORTHEAST ACTIVATED CARBON DEMAND BY SUBREGION, MARKET, & TYPE (million pounds)

        3. 8.3.2 Midwest

          $422.00

          1. Table | MIDWEST ECONOMIC OVERVIEW

          2. Table | MIDWEST ACTIVATED CARBON DEMAND BY SUBREGION, MARKET, & TYPE (million pounds)

        4. 8.3.3 South

          $435.00

          1. Table | SOUTH ECONOMIC OVERVIEW

          2. Table | SOUTH ACTIVATED CARBON DEMAND BY SUBREGION, MARKET, & TYPE (million pounds)

        5. 8.3.4 West

          $406.00

          1. Table | WEST ECONOMIC OVERVIEW

          2. Table | WEST ACTIVATED CARBON DEMAND BY SUBREGION, MARKET, & TYPE (million pounds)

    9. 9 INDUSTRY STRUCTURE

      $4,060.00

      1. 9.1 General

        $201.00

        1. Table | SELECTED ACTIVATED CARBON SALES BY COMPANY, 2012 (million dollars)

      2. 9.2 Market Share

        $228.00

      3. 9.3 Competitive Strategies

        $122.00

      4. 9.4 Acquisitions & Divestitures

        $82.00

      5. 9.5 Cooperative Agreements

        $82.00

        1. Table | SELECTED COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS

      6. 9.6 Marketing & Distribution

        $82.00

      7. 9.7 Technology & Manufacturing

        $420.00

        1. 9.7.1 Feedstocks

          $82.00

        2. 9.7.2 Production Technology

          $82.00

        3. 9.7.3 Product Characteristics

          $101.00

        4. 9.7.4 Manufacturing Trends

          $82.00

      8. 9.8 Research & Development

        $180.00

        1. 9.8.1 Raw Material Development

          $109.00

        2. 9.8.2 Other Research & Development Activities

          $82.00

      9. 9.9 Company Profiles

        $2,700.00

        1. 9.9.1 ADA Carbon Solutions LLC

          $85.00

        2. 9.9.2 ADA-ES Incorporated

          $82.00

        3. 9.9.3 Albemarle Corporation

          $83.00

        4. 9.9.4 Arkema SA

          $97.00

        5. 9.9.5 Asbury Carbons Incorporated

          $82.00

        6. 9.9.6 Babcock Power Incorporated

          $82.00

        7. 9.9.7 Cabot Corporation

          $246.00

        8. 9.9.8 Calgon Carbon Corporation

          $328.00

        9. 9.9.9 California Carbon Company Incorporated

          $82.00

        10. 9.9.10 Cameron Great Lakes Incorporated

          $82.00

        11. 9.9.11 Carbochem Incorporated

          $82.00

        12. 9.9.12 Carbon Activated Corporation

          $82.00

        13. 9.9.13 Carbon Resources LLC

          $143.00

        14. 9.9.14 Carbtrol Corporation

          $91.00

        15. 9.9.15 Donau Chemie AG

          $89.00

        16. 9.9.16 Indo German Carbons Limited

          $82.00

        17. 9.9.17 Jacobi Carbons AB

          $133.00

        18. 9.9.18 Kuraray Company Limited

          $82.00

        19. 9.9.19 MeadWestvaco Corporation

          $148.00

        20. 9.9.20 Osaka Gas Company Limited

          $103.00

        21. 9.9.21 Pacific Activated Carbon Company Incorporated

          $82.00

        22. 9.9.22 RWE Group

          $82.00

        23. 9.9.23 Shanxi Xinhua Chemical Company Limited

          $82.00

        24. 9.9.24 Shenhua Ningxia Coal Industry Group Company Limited

          $82.00

        25. 9.9.25 Siemens AG

          $310.00

        26. 9.9.26 Veolia Environnement SA

          $108.00

      10. 9.10 Additional Companies in the Activated Carbon Industry

        $82.00

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