International. According to a new study by Grand View Research, Inc., the global levulinic acid market is expected to reach 917.2 tons kilo by 2020. It is further estimated that increasing applications of levulinic acid in pharmaceuticals, pesticides, cosmetics, solvents will drive demand over the next six years.
In addition, further technology development for the production of levulinic acid is expected, in order to reduce costs to competitive levels to increase the growth of the market during the forecast period. As of 2013, levulinic acid was a small segment of the platform chemicals market, but with the development of applications such as Methyltetrahydrofuran (MTHF), DALA, ethyl levulinate, and diphenolic acid, the potential demand is expected to be in excess of 25,000 kilo tons over the next six years.
Several companies, such as DuPont, Segetis and Biofine, have developed a patented process for manufacturing levulinic acid through bio-based pathways.
This is expected to open up opportunities for the market, which to date have been limited due to the low availability of raw materials. In addition, the companies claim they have developed processes that would reduce the price of levulinic acid in their current range from $5 to $8 per kilo to less than $1 per kilo.
