SA air pollution targeted

South Africa Air Pollution

New legislation is starting to take effect in South Africa, prompting the nation's air pollution control market to go through a dynamic phase of change.

Analysts Frost & Sullivan predicts the South African air pollution control industry to be worth almost US$3.7 billion by 2015, growing from US$2.7 billion last year.

The study covered the following market sectors: energy and power, chemicals and petrochemicals, steel and metals, pulp and paper and, cement and brick manufacturing.

Derrick Chikanga, environmental technologies analyst for F&S, said: "The recent tightening of legislation has been a major driver behind growth in this market.

Air Quality Act

"The Air Quality Act, which was passed into law in 2005, addresses all the short-comings that existed during the previous Atmospheric Pollution Prevention Act."

The new legislation, called the Air Quality Act, focuses more on ambient control rather than emissions control. Therefore, the act presents a whole new challenge to industries, as it enforces far tighter regulations and heftier penalties for non-compliant companies than ever before.

At the moment, carbon emitting companies that don't comply with regulations are what's holding the market back.

"Previously, most emission generators considered emissions control as a "nice-to-have" technology rather than an essential requirement," explains Chikanga.

"As such, fume abatement technology is viewed as a grudge purchase, a capital cost not adding to the bottom line."

Expansion drive

But there is huge opportunity for growth as the largest emission generators are willing to undertake expansion initiatives that can drive air pollution control forward.

But there are many reasons why the Air Quality Act will initially struggle to make a serious impact.

For example, AE-Africa.com reports that South Africa's national electricity utility, Eskom, has embarked on an expansion drive to increase generation capacity and ensure a reliable supply of electricity to the country, and expansions in operations will almost certainly be accompanied by increased GHG emissions.

"Both the power generation and petrochemical industries are expected to generate large volumes of emissions as they embark on their expansion drive," comments Chikanga.

He added, "the strict enforcement of legislation guarantees the need for responsible and holistic air pollution control mechanisms by these industries."

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