Environmental concerns to drive catalyst growth
23 Nov 2004
The worldwide market for catalysts is set to grow by 5.1% per year until 2008, reaching a total of $11.3billion, according to market researchers at the Freedonia Group in Cleveland, OH.
Increasing production of end-use products - refined petroleum, plastics and chemicals - is one driving factor, but even more important is the increasing emphasis on environmentally clean production, which is forcing developers to find new and more efficient catalysts.
Petroleum refining catalyst demand will rise by 4.4% annually, reaching $3.8billion by 2008, Freedonia says in its World Catalysts report. The greatest growth will be in hydroprocessing catalysts, particularly those used to produce low-sulphur fuels.
In the chemical synthesis market, consumption will grow by 4.8%, with the fastest growth seen in fine chemicals, intermediates and pharmaceuticals. Catalysts for chiral chemistry and biocatalysts will both outstrip the overall market, the report says.
And the market for polymerisation catalysts will see growth rates of 6.2%, with higher value-added catalysts and new generation of Ziegler-Natta systems all contributing to the performance.
As with most of the chemical sector, the markets in China, India, Eastern Europe and Latin America are likely to see the highest growth rates. However, volumes are, and will remain, high in the industrialised regions of the US, Western Europe and Japan.
