Owing to the widespread medicinal applications of chitin, chitosan market has been emerging as one of the lucrative business spheres in the healthcare sector. Traditionally, chitosan is used across water purification plants, cosmetics, and fabric firms pertaining to its capability to absorb oils, greases, toxic substances, and metals. Moreover, over the last few years, it is also preferred for various drug delivery systems and lowering the body weight. The surging importance for chitosan owing to its remarkable medical benefits will have a positive influence on the growth of chitosan market.
U.S. chitosan market size, by end-user, 2013 - 2024 (USD Million)
As of now, there are more than 70 known application areas of Chitosan across several industrial sectors including food processing, agriculture, and manufacturing. Powered by the rise in the industrial and medicinal uses of chitosan, most of the research organizations and companies have been looking forward to developing a new range of advanced products. The surging involvement of companies in the advancement of chemically processed chitin is likely to stimulate chitosan industry share over the years ahead.
The rapid industrialization across the globe has certainly been responsible for the growth of chitosan market. Most of the metal manufacturing and chemical processing industries release a large amount of wastewater comprising heavy metals and hazardous chemicals. In order to segregate such wastewater released from these industries, chitosan is used in wastewater treatment plants pertaining to its eco-friendliness cost-effectiveness, biodegradability, and excessive availability. Increasing investments in the construction of wastewater treatment plants across myriad geographies are poised to propel the chitosan market share over the years ahead.
Taking into account the surging consumption of chitosan for numerous applications, several companies have been developing new techniques to increase the production of chitosan. For instance, in 2017, a few researchers from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) developed a new technique to manufacture water-soluble, low molecular weight chitin and chitosan. They claimed that the new technology could reduce the time required to produce environment-friendly and water-soluble chitosan. The proposed depolymerization technique is certain to emerge beneficial for the technologies that are conventionally used across biotech and chemical industries. In addition, the growing acceptance for new generation technologies across pharmaceutical, agriculture, and medical applications will further promote chitosan industry trends.
The increasing popularity of nanomaterials pertaining to their scope of applicability and strength has encouraged chitosan manufacturers to develop different forms of chitin and chitosan. The increasing awareness among the chitosan developers about the significant benefits of nano chitosan variants has turned out to be beneficial for major industries in terms of garnering modest ROIs.
Validating the aforementioned fact, few days before, in accordance with the increasing importance for nanomaterials, Green Science Alliance Co., Ltd developed chitin and chitosan nanofibers which can be mixed with cosmetics and several other biomedical applications. Due to the high mechanical strength, low thermal expansion, and high elasticity, these newly produced chitin nanofibers can also be used as reinforcement in plastics and additive in sealants, glues, optics, electronics, and cosmetics. The significant use of chitosan nanofibers in myriad applications is likely to enhance the overall product demand over the years ahead.
Massive investments by the companies and research institutes in new product development along with the emergence of the latest technology trends are poised to expedite the commercialization scope of chitosan market considerably. The frequent launch of new products will also help players to gain an edge over their competitors. The continuous involvement of scientists in the invention of effective medicinal formulations with the integration of chitin and chitosan products will further strengthen the industry trends. Powered by the surging contribution of companies to minimize the initial production cost and the expanding application terrain of this material, the overall chitosan market is likely to surpass a revenue collection of USD 5.1 billion by the end of 2024.