Home desalination market to top US$ 24 billion by 2020

The market for domestic countertop water treatment devices and other point-of-use treatment systems is estimated to reach US$ 24.5 billion by 2020. And the compound annual growth rate for the market is forecast at 9.86%, from 2015 to 2020 according to a report by market analyst, MarketsandMarkets.

The report, Point-of-Use Water Treatment Systems Market – Forecast to 2020, segmented the market on device, technology, application, and region. The technology segment falls into reverse osmosis systems, distillation systems, disinfection methods, filtration methods, and others.

The researcher forecasts that the market for reverse osmosis (RO) systems will show the highest growth to 2020. The RO market was segmented on the basis of device into tabletop pitchers, faucet-mounted filters, countertop units, under-the-sink filters, and others. The tabletop pitcher segment is projected to grow at the highest rate over the report period.

The applications of the point-of-use water treatment systems include residential and non-residential uses. Residential segment accounted for the highest market share of the total Point-of-Use Water Treatment Systems Market in 2014.

Factors including increasing water contamination and growing awareness of the benefits of clean drinking water drive the point-of-use water treatment systems market said the report. Scarcity of clean drinking water in developing and under-developed regions provides a growth opportunity for the market. But high equipment cost put a rein on the market.

The growing popularity of bottled water market creates a challenge faced by the point-of-use water treatment systems market.

MarketsandMarkets named leading players in the market including 3M, Honeywell International, Koninklijke Philips, Pentair, Panasonic, Unilever, and LG Electronics.
Chief growth strategies taken by the point-of-use water treatment systems companies is development of new products and acquisitions to meet increasing demand in key emerging markets.

・ California-based Torrance firm Physical Optics has won a US$ 100,000 Environment Protection Agency (EPA) grant to develop its ow cost, compact system for desalination of brine or brackish water into potable water which is suited to small domestic water purification devices. The grant is to fund the product’s commercialization. Once it is commercially viable the , company could apply for a second contract of up to US$ 300,000 to develop the product further and market it.