Advanced Phase Change Materials Market - Forecast(2024 - 2030)

Advanced phase change materials market size is forecast to reach US$4.3 billion by 2026, after growing at a CAGR of 18.5% during 2021-2026, owing to the increasing usage of advanced phase change materials in various end-use industries due to its high heat of fusion, high thermal conductivity, high specific density, long term reliability during repeated cycling, and dependable freezing properties. Phase change materials (PCMs) are gaining increasing attention and becoming popular in the thermodynamic system applications of latent heat storage, heating ventilation, air conditioning, and more as it enhances the thermal and mechanical performance of the thermodynamic system. The rapid growth of the building and construction industry has increased the demand for advanced phase change materials; thereby, fueling the market growth. Furthermore, the flourishing energy storage industry is also expected to drive the advanced phase change materials industry substantially during the forecast period.

Almost every industry in the global economy has been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. In the building & construction application, the advanced phase change materials market is expected to be negatively affected due to disruptions in the global supply chain as the market is highly dependent on growth in the construction & construction sectors. Also, there has been a temporary suspension of building and construction activities in various regions. In Quarter 2 (Apr to June) 2020, for example, construction performance in Great Britain dropped by a record 35.0 percent compared with Quarter 1 (Jan to Mar) 2020. This decrease in value was due to the pandemic of the Corona Virus. Also, the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak is having a huge impact on the automotive industry. Automotive production has been disruptively halted, leading to significant losses in the automotive industry as a whole. According to the European Automotive Manufacturers Association, demand for new commercial vehicles across the EU remained weak as of June 2020. With the decrease in automotive production, the demand for heating ventilation and air conditioning components has significantly fallen, which is having a major impact on the advanced phase change materials market growth.

The report: “Advanced Phase Change Materials Market – Forecast (2021-2026)”, by IndustryARC, covers an in-depth analysis of the following segments of the advanced phase change materials Industry.

By Type: Solid-Solid (Polymer, and Polyalcohol), Solid-Liquid (Organic (Paraffin, Non-Paraffin, and Others), and Inorganic (Hydrated Salts, Metallic, and Others)), and Bio-Based

By Form: Encapsulated (Macro-Encapsulated, and Micro-Encapsulated), and Non-Encapsulated

By End-Use Industry: Building & Construction (Residential, Commercial, and Industrial), Shipping & Transportation, Food & Beverages (Fresh Food, Bakery, Poultry, Dairy, and Others), Electrical & Electronics, Energy Storage (Thermal, Solar, and Others), Automotive (Passenger Cars, Light Commercial Vehicles (LCV), Heavy Commercial Vehicles (HCV), and Others), Textiles, Aerospace (Commercial, Military, and Others), and Others

By Geography: North America (USA, Canada, and Mexico), Europe (UK, Germany, France, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Russia, Belgium, and Rest of Europe), Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, India, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, Indonesia, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Rest of APAC), South America (Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, and Rest of South America), Rest of the World (Middle East, and Africa)

 

The solid-liquid segment held the largest share in the advanced phase change materials market in 2020, owing to the increasing demand for paraffin-based advanced phase change materials from various end-use industries. In relation to mass & melt, paraffins demonstrate strong storage density and solidify reliably with little or no sub-cooling. They have high heat of fusion, have good thermal characteristics, and are chemically & thermally stable; paraffins have melting temperature ranges that are ideal for a variety of applications. Due to its excellent characteristics such as non-corrosive, fusion heat, thermal & chemical stability, and low cooling, paraffinic hydrocarbons are commonly used in textiles than other PCMs. Paraffins have poor water solubility because of which they are often heavily used in construction materials. All these extensive characteristics of paraffin-based advanced phase change materials are the key factor anticipated to boost the demand for solid-liquid based advanced phase change materials during the forecast period.

The encapsulated segment held the largest share in the advanced phase change materials market in 2020 up to 73%. The micro-encapsulation of the liquid PCM generates heat energy and creates a momentary warming effect when a PCM garment is worn in extremely cold conditions, where the temperature is below the freezing point of the PCM and the fabric temperature drops below the transition temperature. In other terms, this heat exchange produces a buffering effect in garments when used in adequate amounts, reducing shifts in skin temperature and preserving the wearer's thermal comfort. Even, when the PCM core has melted, the micro-encapsulation helps the substance to remain stable, in the form of tiny bubbles. Also, micro-encapsulation increases the thermal and mechanical efficiency of PCMs used in the storage of thermal energy by increasing the region of heat transfer and preventing melting materials from leaking, which is the major driving factor for the advanced phase change materials market growth during the forecast period.

The building and construction segment held the largest share in the advanced phase change materials market in 2020 and is growing at a CAGR of 20.1%, as advanced phase change materials are largely employed in the building and construction sector. Building and construction manufacturers are continuously finding ways to enhance the energy-saving characteristics of buildings as it leads to less greenhouse gas emissions. The use of high latent melting heat change materials (PCM) to increase the thermal mass of buildings and to store energy from solar radiation as latent heat storage is one of the approaches to achieve this goal. Due to their capacity to store large quantities of thermal energy within narrow temperature ranges, these materials have gained increased attention. In building envelopes, this property makes them suitable for latent heat storage of passive heat. Thus, there is an increasing demand for advanced phase change materials from the building and construction for the latent heat storage industry during the forecast period.

Europe region held the largest share in the advanced phase change materials market in 2020 up to 43%, owing to the increasing demand for advanced phase change materials in applications such as food & beverages packaging, and building & construction in the region. Also, the existence of strict greenhouse gas emission reduction (GHG) regulations is another factor contributing to its development. The European Construction 2020 Action Plan aims to stimulate favorable investment conditions for the construction industry in the region. The Government-wide program for a Circular Economy, aimed at developing a circular economy in the Netherlands by 2050 is boosting the construction sector in the country. According to the Economic Institute for Construction and Housing (EIB), by 2022 construction output will rise in Netherland, with a growth of 7%. This program is projected to add 70,000 new homes a year to the Dutch housing stock. Thus, with the expanding construction industry, the demand for energy-saving will also subsequently increase, which is anticipated to drive the advanced phase change materials market in the APAC region during the forecast period.

In terms of high energy storage density, PCMs are especially attractive and have been selected as one of the most interesting cooling systems. Moreover, they are less bulky, complicated, and costly than conventional methods of cooling, such as forced-air cooling or liquid cooling. Thus, it is largely employed in the automotive industry in the heating ventilation and air conditioning. China is the world's largest vehicle market, according to the International Trade Administration (ITA), and the Chinese government expects automobile production to reach 30 million units by 2020 and 35 million by 2025. According to Organisation Internationale des Constructeurs d'Automobiles (OICA), the production of light commercial vehicles in France has augmented from 4,95,123 in 2018 to 5,27,262 in 2019, an increase of  6.5 % in 2019, and in Spain has augmented from 4,96,671 in 2018 to 5,24,504 in 2019, an increase of  5.6 % in 2019. The production of passenger cars in Africa was 776,967 in 2018, which then rose to 787,287 in 2019, a total increase of 1.3%. Thus, increasing automation production will require more cooling components, which will act as a driver for the advanced phase change materials market during the forecast period. 

Thermal energy storage applications with phase-change materials have drawn broad interest in recent years. Effective use of solar energy requires a storage medium that can make it easier to store excess energy and then when needed, supply that stored energy. By using phase-shift materials, an efficient method of storing solar thermal energy is (PCMs). PCMs are isothermal and have high heat of fusion, and thus offer higher density energy storage and the ability to operate in a variable range of temperature conditions. And the formulation of favorable government policies, growing awareness about renewable energy sources, increasing investments, and more is flourishing the solar energy market in various regions. For instance, on 16 September 2019, during the G5 Sahel summit in Burkina Faso gave strong support to Desert to Power, an initiative launched by the Africa Development Bank (AFDB) in 2018. The initiative aims to develop 10 GW of solar power for the 250 million people across the Sahel region via a network of solar power generation, producing 10GW by 2025. Thus, the booming solar energy industry in various regions acts as a driver for the advanced phase change materials market during the forecast period. 

However, high production costs for phase-change materials and unpredictable raw material prices are some of the key obstacles to the phase-change growth of the materials industry. Crude oil is the main raw material and is vulnerable to tremendous market fluctuations. According to, BP Statistical Review of World Energy, in the recent year there is been a fluctuation in the price of crude oil, for instance, the crude oil price decreased from US$98.95/bbl in 2014 to US$52.39/bbl in 2015 and increased from US$43.73/bbl in 2016 to US$71.31/bbl in 2018 and then decreased to US$64.21/bbl in 2019. And because of this uncertainty in crude oil prices, the price of advanced phase change materials is also uncertain. A slight change in the global oil scenario directly affects the price of phase change materials, restraining the overall market. 

Technology launches, acquisitions, and R&D activities are key strategies adopted by players in the advanced phase change materials market. Major players in the advanced phase change materials market are Climator Sweden AB, Microtek Laboratories Inc., Honeywell Electronic Materials, Inc., Laird Plc, Sasol Limited, Croda International Plc., Entropy Solutions LLC, Pluss Advanced Technologies Pvt. Ltd., Phase Change Energy Solutions Inc., Rubitherm Technologies GmbH, Phase Change Materials Product Ltd., Outlast Technologies LLC, and Henkel Electronic Materials LLC.