Yokogawa Electric Corporation adds the TruePeak Tunable-Diode-Laser Spectroscopy (TDLS) Gas Analyzer to its lineup with the acquisition of Analytical Specialties, Inc., a U.S. firm based in Houston, Texas. Useful for a range of industrial processes—from detecting ammonia and hydrochloric acid in exhaust gas to monitoring moisture levels in natural gas pipelines—TDLS has become critical in the measuring of oxygen and carbon monoxide concentrations for combustion control. Concern over rising oil prices and growing regulatory pressure to curb greenhouse gas emissions have renewed focus in high-precision, high accuracy analytical tools for ensuring optimal combustion efficiency, particularly in the power plant, iron and steel, incineration and chemical industries.
At the company’s North American User Group meeting today, (as reported by InTech Editor Greg Hale) president and chief executive for Yokogawa North America, David Johnson, explained the rational for the purchase: “Every now and then something comes along and the time and energy it would take to develop that product would be two or three or four more years [worth],” Johnson told attendees in reference to TruePeak’s proprietary area-integration method. “This is going to give us all kinds of different applications in different areas. This takes our analytical product line and shifts it into a whole new gear.” Specifically, the firm anticipates the market for this technology to be at $150 million by 2013 and for TruePeak to hold the largest share of that market with projected sales of $30 million in that year.
Yokogawa’s U.S. subsidiary is also establishing a Laser Analytical Division to increase its share in the market for TDLS-based industrial automation and measurement applications.