In the recent times, phase change materials market has received considerable attention across various business verticals including Textiles, Building & Construction, Packaging, HVAC, Electrical & Electronics, and Chemical. The rising environmental concerns across developed and developing economies has resulted in increased efforts by private and government institutions to curtail greenhouse gas emissions. As a consequence, these global efforts have markedly influenced the expansion of phase change materials industry, given that these materials utilize latent heat of phase change to control temperature within a set range. Furthermore, it has to be noted that incorporating phase change materials in the aforementioned business verticals would lower the demand for heaters and coolers. This would, in turn, assist major industrial firms to earn 10-20 times more carbon credits in comparison to the credits obtained by utilizing other insulating materials. Therefore, it is quite undeniable that phase change materials market, which held a total valuation of over USD 1 billion in 2016, is bound to proliferate at a commendable pace in the forthcoming years.
U.S. phase change materials market size, by product, 2013 - 2024 (USD Million)
Construction sector to contribute significantly toward phase change materials market growth
With the burgeoning global population and astonishing rate of industrialization, the building and construction sector has been striving constantly to fulfill the ever-increasing demand for residential and commercial spaces. This has necessitated the formulation of stringent regulatory frameworks across various nations to save energy and reduce harmful emissions. Thermal storage is an efficient way of energy conservation by incorporating phase change materials in buildings. Consequentially, the construction sector has been proactive in utilizing these materials which has further impelled the growth prospects of phase change materials industry.
Moreover, it has been observed that there has been an increase in the utilization of glass surfaces and lightweight materials in the facades of modern buildings. However, these materials are insufficient to store energy i.e. they lack thermal inertia. Energy storage in the ceiling, walls, and floors of buildings can be increased by integrating phase change materials within these surfaces to capture solar energy directly. This would enhance human comfort by maintaining the appropriate temperature in the desired interval for a longer period of time.
Subsequently, phase change materials have been gaining wide scale popularity as an effective substitute to conventional and costlier construction materials. The ability of these materials to store a significant amount of thermal energy within a small volume has made it one of the most promising components in developing energy efficient buildings – a factor that has further propelled the phase change materials market expansion.
It would be prudent to mention that the construction sector led the end user segment of the overall phase change materials industry in the year 2016. Needless to mention, as the global construction arena strives to find the middle path of fulfilling the rising demand of its consumers and comply with regulatory norms to ensure climate resilience, the growth potential of phase change materials industry seems promising in the near future.
Launch of innovative products to drive phase change materials industry progression
Elaborating further on the phase change materials market trends, numerous upcoming and established industry participants have been focusing on developing novel products in the recent past. Below are a few prominent instances of the same which highlight the growth trajectory of phase change materials industry:
With the emergence of new encapsulation technologies and improvement in latent heat storage capacity, phase change materials market is set to witness a transformation of sorts. This is in addition to the efforts being deployed by numerous industry participants to develop new product alternatives to evaluate different phase change temperature options that would aid various business verticals to conserve energy. Endorsed by a lucrative end use landscape, phase change materials market share is certain to grow at an exceptional pace over the next seven years. In fact, as per a report by Global Market Insights, Inc., market is estimated to register an impressive y-o-y growth rate of 15.8% during the forecast timespan.