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Author(s): Surfactants Market Overview:
The Surfactants Market is expected to garner $44.6 billion by 2020 during the forecast period 2014-2020. Surfactants are the organic compounds with presence of both hydrophobic and hydrophilic group. Surfactants allow oil molecules to mix with or ‘dissolve’ in water. Their properties such as wettability, detergency, emulsion, dispersion, stabilization, and foam/froth have vast practical applications in variety of industries. The key drivers responsible for the growth of the global surfactants market size includes growing end user industry, changing lifestyles in developing economies. However, factors such as volatility in raw material prices, stringent regulation on the environmental issues, pollution control laws for manufacturing processes, increasing inclination towards green products, and governmental pressure for implementation of eco-friendly chemical processes would impede the market growth.
Household detergents and personal care applications are largest market segments in terms of application. Food processing is the fastest growing application segment due to growing use of surfactants as biocides to inhibit bacteria, fungi, protozoa and viruses that could interfere in fresh fruits, vegetables, fish, and poultry Besides, surfactants are also gaining popularity and technological advancements across different unconventional applications such as for cleaning storage tanks, crude oil transportation and enhanced oil recovery in oil & gas industry, as biocides in agricultural industry, as gene delivery, immunological adjuvant in healthcare industry.
Segment Review
The consumption of surfactants across the globe in 2014 was 17,500.0 kilo tons, which is expected to increase at a CAGR of 3.4% during the forecast period. Out of which, household detergent industry accounted for more than half of the total market in 2014. Surfactants are majorly used in soap & detergent industry due to their properties such as surface tension reduction, wetting, emulsion, and dispersion. These properties of surfactants help in the removal of foreign material from solid surfaces by interfacial adsorption (also known as detergency). Soaps are water-soluble sodium or potassium salts of fatty acids. Soaps are made from fats & oils, or their fatty acids, by treating them chemically with a strong alkali. Not all surfactants can be good detergents.
The hydrophilic end of cationic surfactants comprises positively charged ions. Therefore, they are attracted to negatively charged surfaces, such as fabrics. Majority of the cationic surfactants are bactericides, which are used to clean surgery equipment and sterilize bottles and containers, especially in the food and beverage industry. Geographically, North America is the leading consumer of cationic surfactants and has consumed more than half of the total cationic surfactants market in 2014.
Asia-Pacific Review:
In the Asia-Pacific region there are vast economies, developing as well as developed. Some of the world’s richest and developed nations lies in this region. Hence, this region offers huge potential for market players. Presently, surfactant industries are looking for new areas of development and investments. Therefore, manufacturers of surfactant are in the phase of expansion, investment, new product launches so as to come out of the recession.
Asia-Pacific Surfactants Market Share, by Type, 2015 (%)
The Asia-Pacific surfactant industry offers a potential opportunity for prominent players, owing to increasing population and rising demand for newer technologies and products from the developing regions. Improved lifestyle, increasing cost of living and rising population have fostered the adoption of surfactants in various industries, such as personal care, soaps & detergents, and pharmaceutical industry; thereby, boosting the growth of the surfactant industry. Moreover, abundance of feedstock and other raw materials required for manufacturing bio-surfactants facilitate the manufacturing of eco-friendly products.
However, establishing new plants, implementing technologies, expanding value-supply chain between raw material providers and manufacturing industries in the developing countries of Asia-Pacific region are the major restraints for the industry players. Moreover, current environmental laws and regulations are not as strict as they are observed in western developed countries.
Top Winning Strategy
Top market players in global surfactants industry are adopting acquisition, agreement, certification, contract, expansion, investment, joint venture, partnership, product launch, and innovation among others as their key business strategies to sustain in the competitive market. The data regarding market players and their strategic moves are gathered through the press release of respective companies, various blogs, which is limited to the available information on the website and primary calls to the experts in the industry. The key strategies adopted by the leading market players are expansion and product launch.
Top winning strategies in the global surfactants market, 2004-2014 (%)
Source: Press releases, AMR Analysis
BASF in association with Solazyme introduced their first commercial microalgae based betaine surfactant. This is being sold under brand Dehyton AO 45 and is useful for the application in home and personal care products. The newly launched product is an alternative to amidopropyl betaine that has application in products such as shampoos, liquid soaps and hand dishwashing liquids among others. AlgaPur Microalgae Oils are the main ingredient used in the production of the Dehyton AO 45. Solazyme produces this oil with the fermentation of sugarcane.
KEY MARKET BENEFITS:
- This report includes extensive analysis of the factors driving as well as restraining the global surfactants market.
- The market projections for the period 2014‐2020 have been included along with factors affecting the same.
- This report also provides quantitative as well as qualitative market trends to help the stakeholders in understanding the situations prevailing in the market.
- An in-depth analysis of key segments of the market demonstrates stakeholders with different types of surfactants consumed across different industries on the globe.
- SWOT analysis enables to study the internal environment of the leading companies for strategy formulation.
- Competitive intelligence highlights the business practices followed by the leading market players across various geographies.
SURFACTANTS MARKET KEY SEGMENTS:
The market for global surfactants is segmented as:
- By Types
- Cationic
- Anionic
- Linear Alkyl Benzene (LAB)
- FAI Ether Sulfates
- FAI Sulfates
- Sulfosuccinates
- Others
- Non-ionic
- Fatty Al Ethoxylates
- Alkyl Phenol Ethoxylates
- Other
- Amphoteric
- Others (Silicones and fluorosurfactants among others)
- By Application
- Household detergents
- Personal Care
- Industrial & Institutional Cleaners
- Food Processing
- Oilfield Chemicals
- Agricultural Chemicals
- Textiles
- Emulsion Polymerization
- Paints & Coatings
- Construction
- Others
- By Geography
- North America
- Europe
- Asia Pacific
- LAMEA
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