ANALYSIS OF AMMONIA REMOVAL FROM WASTEWATER MARKET: FEASIBILITY OF SALTWORKS INTRODUCING NEW TECHNOLOGY

This paper presents an analysis of the market for removing ammonia from wastewater to assess its attractiveness and confirm the feasibility of Saltworks developing and launching its promising new ammonia removal technology. After an introduction, the paper qualitatively analyses the opportunity for Saltworks to enter the ammonia removal market using a SWOT analysis. The author’s personal experiences, Saltworks documentation, and interviews with Saltworks staff provide insight into the company’s strategies and capabilities. Current ammonia removal technologies are then reviewed. Next, Saltworks’ primary competitors in the ammonia removal market are examined using Porter’s Five Forces framework. The paper concludes with an exploration of the primary sources of ammonia pollution in wastewater using EPA and Environment Canada census data. From the analysis, it is concluded that this market overall is attractive to Saltworks. There is increasing demand for technological solutions for the removal of ammonia from wastewater. The innovative solution that Saltworks offers, although new to the market, promises to solve many of the problems besetting existing technologies. Saltworks’ technology has significant technical advantages that will allow it to enter the more profitable and less competitive segments of this market. Several segments are particularly attractive due to higher customer willingness to pay and the barriers to entry for most other competitors. Saltworkscould capture the greatest value by targeting those segments faced with high ammonia concentrations. They include landfill leachate, coal exhaust scrubbers, and concentrated animal feeding operations. This paper recommends that Saltworks target the most technologically challenging markets, where its technology has a technical advantage over competitors, to find early adopters to purchase initial installations. After establishing itself in the industry, Saltworkscan lower prices and enter lower value market segments to continue growing.