Growth of New Power Plant Industries Is Estimated to Drive the Rheology Modifiers for Industrial Cleaners Market

Growing Investments in the Field of Construction are Influencing the Market Growth. Rheology Modifiers for Industrial Cleaners Market size is forecast to reach US$408.7 million by 2026, after growing at a CAGR of 5.4% during 2021-2026.

Rheology modifiers are vital additives that are added to liquid and semi-solid products to control the viscosity and flow characteristics of the products. These additives aid in the management of liquid shelf stability, ease of application, open time/wet edge, and sagging, in addition to achieving the desired viscosity. They also have an effect on leveling, settling, and film formation. As a result, rheology modifiers are widely used in a variety of compatible ingredients to positively manipulate modern cleaning solutions and provide industrial cleaners formulators with unrivaled hard surface formulations for fast cleaning.

Although traditional cleaners provide good performance, rheology modifiers have become an integral ingredient in the processing of today’s most innovative and naturally-based industrial cleaners, as they enable improved sensory experiences and performance in an array of formulations. And in recent times industrial care consumers’ demand for advanced hard surface cleaners, due to which the industrial cleaner’s formulators are challenged with delivering a high level of performance in this competitive market, which has accelerated the demand for rheology modifiers. There is a strong need to disinfect and sanitize frequently touched surfaces in industrial facilities. Rheology modifiers can thicken industrial disinfectant and cleaning products at low to high pH values, owing to which there is a growing demand for rheology modifiers for industrial cleaners, which is spurring the overall market growth. Furthermore, growth opportunities exist for the global market of rheology modifiers for industrial cleaners as there have been growing investments in the field of pipeline construction activity, driven by the continuing global shift toward natural gas and the rapid growth of shale production.

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, several manufacturing industries such as consumer electronics manufacturers, food processing plants across regions had to shut down their production facilities and services as countries adopted partial or absolute lockdown policies to deal with the pandemic, due to which, the manufacturers experienced a huge loss in terms of production and revenue. The manufacturing industries were not resistant to the crisis as there was a dramatic change in the purchase and usage behavior, leading to the fall of sales across various segments, owing to which the recession had a significant short, medium, and long term impact on the industry, affecting business growth. The simultaneous supply and demand shock because of the shutdowns led to an extremely deep slump, which indirectly limited the demand for rheology modifiers for industrial cleaners. For instance, according to the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, the average percentage decrease in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) across countries between March 2020 and December 2019 was 5.6 percent, while the average percentage decrease between March 2020 and June 2020 was 2.5 percent. The reduction in the production of consumer goods, processed foods, and electronic products reduced the demand for industrial cleaners, which reduced the growth of the rheology modifiers for industrial cleaners market in the year 2020. However, there was an increasing demand for cleaning products in industries once the lockdown was eased up after the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, to keep premises in check. Thus, the demand for industrial cleaner’s products was in a constant path in the last few months of 2020 and starting of 2021, until countries were hit hard by the second wave of the covid pandemic. Moreover, rapid growth in the manufacturing industry is expected in mid-2021 or the first quarter of 2022, considering the arrival of COVID-19 vaccines and cease of social distancing, which, in turn, will ease the rheology modifiers for industrial cleaners market functioning.

Asia-Pacific held a major share of the rheology modifiers for industrial cleaners market owing to the regions’ growing manufacturing facilities. The increasing demand for a clean and safe environment in various industries is one of the major factors driving the growth of the market. For instance, according to the International Trade Administration, in 2017, South Korea's private and public sectors have agreed to increase the number of smart factories in the country, with a target of getting more than 30,000 factories operating with the latest analytical and digital technologies by 2025. In 2019, Hyundai Motor has agreed to construct a vehicle manufacturing plant in Kota Deltamas, east of Jakarta, after signing a memorandum of understanding with the Indonesian government. The new plant will cost about US$1.5 billion to construct and function until 2030, including costs for product development and maintenance. According to the India Brand Equity Foundation, with the support of the Make in India initiative, India is on its way to becoming a hi-tech manufacturing hub, with global giants such as GE, Siemens, HTC, Toshiba, and Boeing having established or planning to establish new manufacturing plants in India. With the establishment of these new manufacturing plants, the market for rheology modifiers for industrial cleaners is estimated to rise in the forecast period.

The goal of production facilities and manufacturing plants such as chemical is to work continuously at maximum efficiency without draining on productivity. The proper cleaning of chemical equipment facilitates overall productivity and the long-term budgetary priorities of the plant. A slowdown due to the non-presence of proper cleaning in the production outcome is inappropriate for any cause, so industrial cleaners are often used to increase performance in chemical manufacturing facilities. Rheological modifier-based industrial cleaners are the preferred materials of choice for cleaning chemical manufacturing facilities as they help in improving the vertical cling of chemicals by enhancing the shear flow, shear stress, shear rate, and viscosity of the industrial cleaners. Various chemical manufacturing facilities are being opened up to meet the increasing demand for chemicals in the day-to-day life of the consumers. For instance, in August 2020, Chemetry Corp. and Braskem have announced plans to construct and operate a demonstration plant in Brazil that will use Chemetry's eShuttle technology to produce ethylene dichloride (EDC). In July 2019, West Coast Olefins purchased a 300-acre plot in the BCR Industrial Area for a US$5.6 billion chemical project. The project involves a world-scale ethylene plant and a polyethylene factory, and the company estimates that it will take three years to complete the building and get the facilities up and running. In November 2020, Peróxidos do Brasil, a joint venture between the Solvay Group and Produtos Qumicos Makay (PQM), started the construction of a new hydrogen peroxide production unit (H2O2) at the Coronel Industrial Park in Chile's BioRegion. In September 2019, Borealis announced to invest nearly €1 billion (US$1.1 billion) in the construction of a new world-scale propane dehydrogenation (PDH) plant in Kallo, Belgium. The commissioning of the new Kallo plant is expected to take place in mid-2022. Thus, with various new chemical manufacturing facilities coming up under commercial production, it is projected that the demand for industrial cleaners will substantially increase, which will positively drive the rheological modifiers for the industrial cleaners market during the forecast period.

Component cleanliness is viewed as a quality standard in the automotive industry, and the standards are becoming more stringent with each generation of vehicles. The value of optimizing parts cleaning processes for car manufacturers and suppliers has grown in tandem with rising cost pressures. Various automotive manufacturers are expanding the construction of their manufacturing facilities. For instance, in June 2020, Meritor, Inc. announced the construction of a US$50 million, 160,000-square-meter facility in Brazil to support the expanding domestic commercial vehicle market. In November 2019, Tesla announced that the American electric vehicle manufacturer will establish a manufacturing plant and design and engineering center in Germany’s Berlin and Brandenburg region. The project is expected to be up and running by late 2021. In February 2020, Opel, a subsidiary of PSA, plans to construct enough battery cells for half a million electric cars per year in a new factory in Kaiserslautern, Germany, starting in 2024. With the increase in such projects the demand and usage of proper industrial cleaning to make maximize the optimization potential for the cleaning of parts, as a step in the production process is essential, owing to which there is an increasing demand for industrial cleaners in the automotive manufacturing facilitates, which is aiding the market growth.

Research and Development departments are constantly improving existing product performance, optimizing manufacturing efficiencies, and developing the next generation of oilfield surfactants with newer applications. For instance, Cosun Beet Company introduced a 100 percent bio-based rheology modifier developed during the PULP2VALUE demonstration project for use in a variety of consumer applications, including liquid laundry products. Betafib® is a natural product derived from sugar beet pulp that has exceptional rheological properties.

The major companies in the rheology modifiers for industrial cleaners market include BASF SE, Clariant, Ashland, Dow Chemicals, Arkema, Munzing Chemie GmbH, Nouryon, BYK Additives & Instruments, Croda International Plc, Lubrizol, CP Kelco, SNF, Comercial Quimica Masso S.A., Oxiteno, and Cosun Beet Company. The key focus of the companies has shifted towards expansion and agreement.

In March 2021, Ashland Global Holdings Inc. planned to increase the production of Natrosol brand hydroxyethylcellulose (HEC) at its manufacturing site in Nanjing, China. Natrosol HEC is used as a non-ionic rheology modifier in industrial and consumer-related applications. In February 2020, BYK Additives & Instruments Company inaugurated its new production facility and research center at Gonzales, Texas. The company invested US$ 50 million in the construction of a new manufacturing facility in Texas. The production facility involved in the manufacturing products in the rheology additive portfolio.

In August 2020, CP Kelco and Biesterfeld expanded their long-term distribution partnership. As part of this collaboration, Biesterfeld distributes CP Kelco's natural pectin, carrageenan, xanthan gum, and citrus fiber in Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Estonia, Lituania, and Latvia. In February 2020, Cosun Beet Company has signed a distribution agreement with Essential Ingredients to distribute its Household, Industrial, and Institutional ingredients in North America. The collaboration with Essential Ingredients brings Cosun Beet Company to the next level in North America.