The increasing environmental degradation being caused due to the large-scale usage of conventional chemicals is making both governments and peoples of several countries switch to renewable chemicals in order to curb the rising emission levels. Moreover, the rising awareness among the masses about the harmful health and environmental effects of conventionally used chemicals is pushing up the requirement for renewable chemicals across the globe. Furthermore, many environmental regulatory bodies and governments are implementing stringent regulations for reducing the environmental damage.
The REACH regulation implemented by the European Commission is one such strict policy that aims to protect environmental and human health from the harmful effects of chemicals. These regulations encourage the usage of eco-friendly chemicals, instead of the traditional toxic ones, in industrial operations and thus, fuel the surge in the sales of these chemicals. Besides this, the abundant availability of feedstock at low prices is also positively impacting the global demand for renewable chemicals.
These chemicals are produced from processes such as dehydrative transformation, thermo-chemical conversion, fermentation and bioconversion, enzymatic hydrolysis, product separation and bioconversion, production of Fischer-Tropsch diesel, acid hydrolysis, gasification/fermentation, and reductive transformation. Bio-medical, health and hygiene, transportation, food safety, textiles, environment, housing, communication, recreation, and agriculture are the major application areas of renewable chemicals. Out of these, the usage of these chemicals is currently observed to be considerably high in the agriculture, bio-medical, and environment sectors.
This is ascribed to the presence of strict government regulations and policies in several countries and high public awareness about the environment-friendly characteristics of these chemicals across the world. Furthermore, because of the declining reserves of fossil fuels and the high environmental pollution caused by these materials, industries are increasingly adopting renewable chemicals in their various operations. Across the globe, the renewable chemicals market recorded the most lucrative growth in Europe in the years gone by.