Global Bio-based Chemicals Market Activity Overview Spreadsheet

This spreadsheet provides an overview of activity in the developing bio-based commodity chemicals market, detailing which companies are working on which chemical platforms.

Summary
More than 85 per cent of the chemicals we use today come from fossil-based feedstocks like oil and gas. However, there is a growing appetite for chemicals made from bio-based feedstocks.

Current global bio-based chemical and polymer production (excluding biofuels) is estimated to be around 50 million tonnes and the market is growing by nearly 10 per cent every year.

Notable examples of bio-based chemicals include non-food starch, cellulose fibres and cellulose derivatives, tall oils, fatty acids and fermentation products such as ethanol and citric acid.

The range of applications for these bio-based chemicals also continues to expand and these sustainable alternatives to fossil-based chemicals are now being used to manufacture a new generation of bio-based plastics, lubricants, paints, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and other products; in fact, almost all industrial materials made from fossil resources could be substituted by bio-based counterparts.

The World Wide Fund for Nature reports that by 2030 the use of bio-based chemicals could prevent 660 million tonnes of carbon dioxide reaching the atmosphere every year; which is over five times the amount of carbon dioxide released by road, air and rail transport in the UK.

But this is not the only driver pushing major companies towards bio-based chemicals. By 2020, bio-based chemicals and their polymers will generate an estimated $10-15 billion, as the market moves from niche high-value chemicals towards larger-scale applications.

In this spreadsheet we provide an overview of the bio-based commodity chemicals market as it stands today, detailing which companies are working on which chemical platforms. The overview covers sixty-five companies and forty-eight commodity chemicals.

Source

NNFCC, press release, 2012-06-25.

Supplier

NNFCC

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