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Rebounding production of paint and coatings and ongoing fear about pathogens will help drive demand for disinfectant and anti-microbial chemicals to $1.2 billion in 2013, according to a new study from The Freedonia Group, Inc., a Cleveland-based industry research firm.
Demand for disinfectant chemicals in industrial, institutional and commercial, and consumer markets is expected to grow, despite considerable scientific disagreement about the necessity of using disinfectant chemicals in many of their current applications.
Gains in the consumer market -- the fastest-growing overall – will be driven by fears of food-borne and other pathogens, as disinfectant active ingredients are being added to many traditional cleaning products that have not typically contained such ingredients.
In the health care market, there is broad agreement that aggressive infection control programs are necessary. As a result, it will remain one of the largest outlets for these products, Freedonia reports.
Use of these chemicals in antimicrobial additive applications, such as in paints, is less controversial, and the paint and coatings industry will provide the area of greatest growth in use of these chemicals. These applications are less likely to create an environment that could lead to the formation of resistant strains of bacteria, and the chemicals are used to prolong the functional lives of these products, despite environmental concerns about some of the additives.
Freedonia predicts the fastest growth in organosulfurs, which are used primarily in paint. “Not only is overall coatings production expected to rebound from a poor performance in 2008, but organosulfurs are likely to be the leading replacement for tributyl tin (TBT) in the marine antifoulant segment,” the group says.
For more information, call 440.684.9600, email pr@freedoniagroup.com, or visit www.freedoniagroup.com.
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