High-quality monitoring instruments become the new favorite of investment

As early as the end of October 2012, the state had invested 40 million yuan to purchase related instruments from the United States for the construction of PM2.5 monitoring sites in various cities. And it is estimated that during the “Twelfth Five-Year Plan” period, the estimated PM2.5 monitoring input will exceed RMB 2 billion. The Chinese government’s emphasis on air quality and the allocation of billions of yuan in air pollution control funds will undoubtedly generate and stimulate a number of subdivided industries with up to 10 billion in the air pollution control industry cluster.

The new monitoring and monitoring instruments faced with such a huge market will inevitably attract companies in related industries. For example: air purifier. Due to the low penetration rate of air purifiers in China, analyst Cui Xijun estimates that the annual output value of air purifiers in 2015 is expected to reach 80 billion yuan. In addition, he also stated that during the “11th Five-Year Plan” period, air purifier sales will be 27% annually. The speed of growth is expected; in 2011-2015, China's air purifier industry will maintain a rapid growth of 30%.

It is true that the release of PM2.5 has made citizens pay more attention to the living environment and air quality, and there is a huge market space for the air purifier as a sunrise industry. It is estimated that by 2015, the indoor environmental protection industry including air purifiers will have an annual output value of 80 billion yuan. In addition to air purifiers, masks and other industries. The highest degree of concern, the most profitable, and the largest room for non-environmental monitoring equipment.

According to the current market survey analysis, foreign instrument manufacturers have a greater advantage. According to relevant data, in the first phase of the new environmental air quality standards monitoring and implementation task in China, PM2.5 equipment installed in ambient air monitoring sites of 496 countries, domestic instruments only With a share of 15%, it can be seen that foreign PM2.5 equipment manufacturers have made a big splash in this market rally. Take the case of the well-known multinational instrument manufacturer Thermo Fisher as an example, the explosive sales of PM2.5 equipment. Growth continued from the second quarter of 2012 to the fourth quarter.

For domestically-made monitoring instruments, only a limited number of companies such as Xuedilong (002658), Congguang Technology (300203, Shares), Xianhe Environmental Protection (300137, Shares), and Tianrui Instrument (300165, stocks) are involved. There is a big gap between fields and technologies and foreign countries. However, the less than ideal market share only represents the current stage. On January 10, 2013, the project “Development and Application of PM2.5 Monitoring Equipment in Environmental Atmosphere” was launched in Beijing. It will research and develop PM2.5 monitoring equipment and sampling equipment with independent intellectual property rights. It is expected that the annual sales can reach 100 million yuan within 3 years after the project acceptance. In addition, with the acceleration of urbanization in China, energy consumption and vehicle ownership in both small and medium-sized cities will increase rapidly. The emission of large amounts of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and volatile organic compounds will increase secondary pollution such as fine particulates, ozone, and acid rain. The trend, the trend of environmental monitoring devices covering small and medium-sized cities will inevitably be accompanied by the progress of urbanization.

Domestic government agencies, research institutes, and instrument manufacturers are all vigorously supporting and investing in R&D, and have begun to enter the high-end market. The capital markets, including equity investments and mergers and acquisitions, are also accelerating. In the face of market-oriented and changes in domestic-funded corporate strategies, foreign-funded enterprises are also vigorously promoting the process of localization. While the industry is developing rapidly, the industry's competitive landscape is quietly changing. In this fierce market competition, the only certainty is that more and more high-end PM2.5 instruments and equipment will contribute to China's environmental protection.

The trend of online analysis is that PM2.5 is extremely harmful to the human body and the environment. The research and development of high-quality monitoring equipment and technical means are the preconditions and important guarantees for effectively controlling PM2.5 pollution. The countries in Europe and America developed earlier in the field of PM2.5 monitoring instruments and equipment, but there are various problems such as the instrument “satisfaction with water and soil” and technical barriers. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop PM2.5 monitoring instruments and technical means with independent intellectual property rights.

The data show that the current mainstream PM2.5 monitoring technology on the market are Beta ray method (β+DHS), dynamic balance measurement system, Beta ray turbidimetry, and light scattering. However, it has been reported that most instruments in China cannot effectively separate solid particles and droplets. For example, on the 14th of January with dense fog, Changsha's clean monitoring monitoring points such as Shaping and Qingzhu Lake, which are far away from the city, rank high in the city, and there are almost no industrial and domestic pollution in the Dawei Mountains at the border of Hunan and Chongqing. The PM2.5 value in the misty mountains is even higher than in the urban areas.

In addition, considering the special chemical composition in PM2.5, for example, black carbon particles. Its small particle size, the proportion is also very small, but has a strong light absorption ability. Studies have shown that when black carbon particles emitted by pollution sources are mixed with sulphate in the atmosphere, they can further enhance the ability of the particles to absorb sunlight. This feature has an important relationship with the reduction of atmospheric visibility and the formation of regional ash. Obviously, although the proportion of black carbon is small, there is no shortage of "contributions" to the ash. Another example: two identical PM2.5 concentration data, one of which is mainly the contribution of road particulate matter to PM2.5, and the other is mainly particulate matter containing heavy metal lead (Pb). The former has much less impact on human health than the latter, and the latter, even if the PM2.5 concentration does not exceed the limit, will still pose a great threat to human health.

The various problems in reality put forward higher requirements for monitoring instruments. The online analysis is convenient, fast, and accurate. It will undoubtedly become the general direction for the development of environmental monitoring instruments in the future. At that time, problems such as sample preparation and lagging analysis results will no longer be the cornerstones of environmental monitoring instruments.

Wang Yuesi, researcher at the Institute of Atmospheric Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that the chemical composition of the powerful pollutants that swept through the central and eastern regions of China was the smoke incident in London, United Kingdom in 1952 and the photochemistry in Los Angeles in the 40s-50s. A mixture of pollutants from smoke incidents and superimposed with dust aerosols with Chinese characteristics. Such a complicated formation mechanism not only raises high standards for PM2.5 monitoring equipment, but also poses a severe challenge to the government's air pollution control.