The need for optimal safety, high yield and combustion value to ensure process integrity is spurring double-digit growth and adoption of humidity and moisture sensors in various industries, including the mining and mineral processing industry, states market research company Frost & Sullivan.

“Maintaining correct moisture values and controlling moisture levels helps ensure required combustion values and avoids explosive reactions.”

Humidity and moisture sensors are based on 11 different contact and noncontact technologies, which are application dependent. However, the absence of a single technology with multiphase application capability and a lack of common standards can hinder market growth, reports Frost & Sullivan.

“The main competitors are from the automation and instrument manufacturing sectors, with the market leader among industrial process automation and control device manufacturing companies being digital industrial company General Electric (GE) and its subsidiaries.

GE is dominating the humidity and moisture sensors market with emerging tunable diode laser noncontact technology, says Frost & Sullivan.

Frost & Sullivan measurement and instrumentation industry principal Dr Rajender Thusu says other companies have also developed a large range of humidity, moisture and temperature combination sensors, such as US-based companies fabless semiconductor company Silicon Laboratories, sensor specialist Building Automation Products Incorporated, conglomerate Honeywell and test tools company Amprobe.

Market Forecast
Analysis from Frost & Sullivan’s test and measurement growth partnership subscription finds that the global humidity and moisture sensors market is expected to grow at a compound yearly rate of 11.7% from 2016 to 2023.

The research analyses current and future technologies, and trends in the global humidity and moisture sensors market for diverse process and discrete applications.

“From a regional perspective, North America dominates the total humidity and moisture sensors market, while competition in Europe is much stronger. Revenues in emerging industrial countries such as China, India, Latin America and East Europe will be boosted by the installation of humidity and moisture sensor monitoring systems in new plants and upgrades in existing plants,” the company states.

Key trends and developments in the global humidity and moisture sensors market include growth of tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy technology, which is often used to avoid spontaneous combustion in coal mining operations, and in older technologies such as aluminium oxide and infrared, owing to cost efficiency.

Other trends include portability and small product format driving demand for hand-held humidity and moisture sensors within the test application sector and growth of direct sales channels.