How is Growing Environmental Concerns Driving Levulinic Acid Market?

The demand for bio-based fuels is increasing significantly at the present time, owing to the surging concern regarding the environment. The extensive usage of fossil fuels has resulted in global warming and a severely degraded state of the environment. Moreover, the fossil fuels are now being depleted at a rapid rate, which along with the growing demand for energy, is leading to the rising need for alternative sources for producing power. Because of these factors, there has been an increased shift from traditional fuel sources to bio-based fuels, which are capable of fulfilling the growing power demand and are a clean source for the production of energy.

Levulinic acid derivatives, such as ethyl, are important component which are used in the production of bio-based additives. Levulinic acid is derived from the acid-catalysed degradation of glucose and other hexoses. It is a vital chemical which can be used for the derivation of several chemicals that can be used as substitutes for petroleum-derived products . According to a P&S Intelligence report, the global levulinic acid market attained a value of $26.3 million and is expected to generate a revenue of $34.5 million by 2024, progressing at a 4.9% CAGR during the forecast period (2019–2024).

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Levulinic acid is produced using acid hydrolysis and biofine technology. Between these two, the biofine technology was utilized the most for the production of levulinic acid in 2018, which is because this technology facilitates the production of levulinic acid without the utilization of any microorganisms for fermenting monomers. In addition to this, the biofine process enables the usage of heterogenous lignocellulosic resources that result in the production of various levulinic acid derivatives such as succinic acid, diphenolic acid, methyl levulinate, and ethyl levulinate. The demand for these derivatives is further projected to grow significantly in the coming years for a number of applications.

Some of the major applications of levulinic acid are fuel additives, food additives, plasticizers, pharmaceuticals, personal care products, and agricultural products. As mentioned above, the demand for levulinic acid in fuel additive application is high at the present time. Apart from this, the usage of this acid is expected to increase significantly for personal care products application in the near future. This is due to the rising adoption of bio-based personal care and cosmetic products. The rising demand in this application is further projected to result in the growth of the levulinic acid market in the coming years.

North America has been the major user of levulinic acid in the past, which is ascribed to the high-volume adoption of levulinic acid derivates in several applications, owing to their organic nature. Levulinic acid and its derivatives can eb utilized in agricultural products including herbicides and pesticides, as they have the ability to enhance crop yield and prevent pest infestation. Apart from this, because of the growing environmental concerns, the preference is shifting from synthetic pesticides to bio-based products.

Hence, the surging concerns regarding the degradation of the environment is leading to the growing demand for levulinic acid.