The global chemicals market is worth about $4 trillion and the commodity chemicals is about 80% of this. That leaves 20% for non-commodity, specialty chemicals. (For those looking for a definition and explanation for specialty chemicals do have a look at this brief report) It is the specialty chemicals sector, which according to estimates is a $800 billion + market worldwide. But what is really exciting is that there is a significant pressure on this sector to go green. Whether it is about specialty chemicals for construction, or for cosmetics, there is a significant movement towards making the supply chain, especially the raw materials, as sustainable and eco-friendly as possible.
The range for industrial specialty chemicals is quite wide, with some prominent sectors given below:
| Agri chemicals | Polymers & resins |
| Construction chemicals | Surfactants |
| Lubricants | Industry specific chem – electronic, textile, oilfield… |
| Additives – Stabilizers, Plasticizers, Lubricant Additives, Flame Retardants, Anti-oxidants, Corrosion Inhibitors, Biocides, Emusifiers & Surfactants | Color Pigments & Dyes, Coatings |
Low Hanging Opportunities – Consumer end user segments – In the short term, significant demand for eco-friendly consumer chemicals can be seen for the following sectors, and these will hence be the segments that see early growth:
- Eco cosmetics – deodorants, perfumes, cosmetics
- Eco detergents and Eco cleaning products
- Food ingredients and additives
- Consumer packaging – especially bioplastics
Companies in this Sector include Daimler, a leading supplier of green chemicals, q33offers Eco-Green Carpet Care & Upholstery Cleaner, a fast-acting, all-natural, cleaning formula that penetrates stains in carpets and upholstery using cutting edge green chemistry.
Companies such as Nike have designed and implemented a more environmentally-friendly rubber for its footwear created with benign accelerators, vegetable oils, and modified processing chemicals and methods without compromising performance. Partnerships with manufacturers in their supply chain allowed Nike to address process changes required by the new rubber formula collaboratively.
Excerpts above have been adapted from EAI (www.eai.in). If you are an entrepreneur/company interested in exploring opportunities in this emerging segment, please follow this link – http://www.consult.eai.in/green-chemicals
