Coatings World - August 2015

part of their competitive strategy. In addition, self-healing materials can bring many practical advantages to the automotive sector including improved asset life and reductions in maintenance and overall cost of ownership.

The market for self-healing materials used in the consumer products sector (mobile electronics, furniture and appliances) is expected to reach around $480 million in 2020. n-tech believes that consumer markets are will be an excellent point of market entry for self-healing materials because the requirements for self-healing consumer products are less demanding than for products the construction industry. In the mobile electronics business, the LG G Flex 2 phone is showing how novel self-healing materials can protect products, perhaps eventually rendering a separate smartphone case unnecessary.

n-tech sees the biggest opportunity from the materials perspective coming from inorganic capsule and vascular materials systems. The market for these materials is negligible now, but will reach

$1.3 billion by 2020. The advantages of these capsule/vascular materials systems are that they are truly autonomic needing no outside thermal or light stimulus to self-repair.

Lux Research Reports
Synthetic Biology Start-ups
Need 7. 4 Years to Launch
First Chemical Product

Synthetic biology start-ups developing technologies to convert biomass and other non-petroleum feedstocks into chemicals and materials need, on average, 7. 4 years to launch a product, according to a Lux Research analysis. Using this data to project the output from the current crop of young synbio companies suggests most are likely to launch first products between 2017 and 2022, with a peak occurring between 2019 and 2020.

“While each company’s approach
is unique, the lessons learned from the
first wave of bio-based materials and
chemicals scale-ups and product launches
provide valuable insights and lessons,”
said Julia Allen, Lux Research analyst
and lead author of the report titled,
“Synthetic Biology: Applications and
Lessons Learned in the Field of Bio-based
Materials and Chemicals.”
“Today’s start-ups still have years to
go, but this historical view can give us
an early indication of which companies
are ahead of the curve and which are be-
hind,” she added.

Lux Research analyzed and quantified the scale-up timelines of 23 synbio companies, and used it to predict the likelihood of youngest startups launching a product. Among their findings: • Oakbio, Global Bioenergies are nearing the average time for launches. There is also a crop of companies nearing the peak likelihood of releasing their first product in 2015 and 2016. Watch for scale-up and product announcements from firms like Oakbio and Global Bioenergies as an indicator of whether these companies will keep pace with the industry or fall behind. • Nucelis is ahead in the race. Among recent synbio entrants, some firms are set to scale and launch ahead of schedule. Nucelis aims to launch its first product several years ahead of the industry average, while Lygos is tracking to meet the industry’s average for a product launch. • Laggards include Kraig Biocraft, Metabolic Explorer. Other companies are behind the industry average in launching their first product, including Kraig Biocraft and Metabolic Explorer. Still, both these groups are at pilot scale, with varying levels of momentum, so some may well break out. The report, titled “Synthetic Biology: Applications and Lessons Learned in the Field of Bio-based Materials and Chemicals,” is part of the Lux Research Bio-based Materials and Chemicals Intelligence service.

U.S. Waxes Demand to
Exceed $3 Billion in 2019

U.S. demand for waxes is forecast to
grow 1.8 percent annually through 2019
to $3.2 billion. Increases in volume terms
will be supported by continued growth in
manufacturing and residential construc-
tion activity. However, advances will
be limited by a challenging environment
for waxes in the packaging industry, as
well as weak growth in most consumer
and commercial applications. The supply
and market share of different
wax types will remain dynamic
as changes in the global petro-
leum refining industry impact
the supply and pricing of petroleum de-
rived waxes, as crude oil and natural gas
prices impact investment in new capacity
for synthetic waxes, and as agricultural
commodity prices impact production of
natural waxes. These and other trends are
presented in “Waxes,” a new study from
The Freedonia Group, Inc.

Developments in the global refining industry will have a significant impact on the composition of the wax market. According to analyst Joey Lovins, “We expect supply issues for petroleum waxes as major refiners shift away from producing the lower quality base oils from which petroleum waxes are derived.” Additionally, refiners are increasingly turning to catalytic dewaxing technologies, which do not produce wax as a byproduct. Limited supplies will continue to support above average growth in petroleum wax prices, and thereby increase the competitiveness of synthetic and natural wax alternatives. The use of synthetic waxes as additives to create high-performance, low-cost wax blends is expected to be a major area of focus for product development. While synthetic waxes will generally benefit from the shift toward higher quality base oils by refiners, synthetic Fisher-Tropsch waxes will face their own supply shortages due to the delay or cancellation of new gas-to-liquids (GTL) projects in the US following the collapse of crude oil prices in 2014.

Natural waxes will remain the small-est segment of the market, with growth expected for some consumer applications such as candles and firelogs. Consumer preference for environmentally friendly products or formulations and the expanding use of cheaper natural wax types – especially hydrogenated palm oil, the least costly natural wax -- will support this growth. Volatility in the supply and cost of natural waxes will remain the most significant factor limiting more widespread adoption of these products.