Plastic to Fuel Market Outlook - 2027

The population in different countries across the globe is increasing rapidly, which has led to increased usage of vehicles. As the fuel required for vehicles is a non-renewable source of energy, it is available in limited amount. In addition, high use of fuel is expected to deplete such sources in near future. Therefore, many companies have started looking for alternative sources of fuel that can also reduce the pollution level. Moreover, as plastic does not decompose easily, it is considered as one of the major sources of pollution. Therefore, companies have started using waste plastic to produce fuel for vehicles and machines.

Market scope and structure:

COVID-19 scenario analysis:

• The demand for plastic to fuel is expected to decrease in 2020 due to low demand from different industries, such as manufacturing, automotive, and chemical, owing to the lockdown imposed by governments of many countries.
• COVID-19 pandemic has shut-down the production of various products in the plastic to fuel industry, mainly owing to the prolonged lockdown in major global countries. This has hampered the growth of the plastic to fuel market significantly from the last few months, and is likely to continue during 2020.
• COVID-19 has already affected the sales of equipment and machinery in the first quarter of 2020 and is likely to cause a negative impact on the market growth throughout the year. 
• The major demand for equipment and machinery was previously noticed from giant manufacturing countries, including the U.S., Germany, Italy, the UK, and China, which have been badly affected by the spread of coronavirus, thereby halting the demand for equipment and machinery.
• Further, potential impact of the lockdown is currently vague and financial recovery of companies is totally based on their cash reserves. Equipment and machinery companies can afford a full lockdown only for a few months, after which the players would have to modify their investment plans.
• Equipment and machinery manufacturers must focus to protect their workforce, operations, and supply chains to respond toward immediate crises and find new ways of working after COVID-19 infection cases start to decrease.

Top impacting factors: Market scenario analysis, trends, drivers, and impact analysis

Considering the need to find an alternative to non-renewable energy sources, such as petrol and diesel, companies in the energy sector are trying to find new solutions. One solution that has been highly adopted by the companies to produce fuel is by making the use of waste plastic. There is large amount of plastic that is thrown away during different commercial and non-commercial applications that do not decompose properly. It becomes the main source of pollution on land as well as water. 

In gasification process, waste plastic is heated with steam or air to produce industrial gas mixture, which is known as syngas or synthesis gas. This syngas or synthesis gas can be further used to produce fuel such as petrol or diesel. Synthesis gas can also be used in boilers to generate electricity. In pyrolysis process, heating of waste plastic is carried out without oxygen. With the help of heating, the mixture of oil, which is almost the same as crude oil, is produced. This oil can be refined for use as fuel in transportation vehicles.

Many countries across the globe carry out R&D activities to develop fuel by using waste plastic. For example, in August 2018, Indian Institute of Petroleum (IIP) and Council of Scientific and Industrial Research started a demonstration plant, which is built specifically to convert the waste plastic to diesel. The fuel developed in this plant can be used in machines and vehicles. 

Moreover, with limited amount of non-renewable energy sources remaining, it has become necessary to find an alternate source of fuel to cope up with increased use of fuel across various industries such as automotive, manufacturing, and chemical. This is the key driving factor for the growth of the plastic to fuel market. Furthermore, industrialization in many countries across the globe is rising at a rapid pace and fuel is very important for machines used in the industries. Therefore, to achieve sustainability, high demand for plastic to fuel method is expected during the forecast period. 

Mergers and acquisitions in the market

Many companies or different research organization are coming together to develop new products or technologies. In September 2018, the University of California collaborated with the Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry. The objective of this collaboration is to find the plastic recycling method through which plastic could be converted to some petroleum product or fuel.   

Key restraining factor for the growth of the plastic to fuel market

The process required for the conversion of waste plastic to usable fuel is very time consuming. The methods used for the conversion are also costly. Therefore, this could hamper the growth of the plastic to fuel market.

Key segments covered:

Key benefits of the report:

• This study presents the analytical depiction of the plastic to fuel market along with the current trends and future estimations to determine the imminent investment pockets.
• The report presents information related to key drivers, restraints, and opportunities along with detailed analysis of the market share.
• The current market is quantitatively analyzed from 2020 to 2027 to highlight the plastic to fuel market growth scenario.
• Porter’s five forces analysis illustrates the potency of buyers & suppliers in the market.
• The report provides a detailed plastic to fuel market analysis based on competitive intensity and how the competition will take shape in coming years.