Phase Change Materials-Latent Heat Storage Units

Phase change materials are also called as latent heat storage units because of its character of storing and releasing large amount of energy. Phase change materials (PCM) have high heat of fusion which on melting or solidifying at a certain temperature, releases large amount of energy.  Heat is absorbed or released when the material is transformed from solid to liquid or vice versa.

Source: wcec.ucdavis.edu

Characteristics:  

The temperature range for Phase Change Materials varies from -5°C up to 190°C. Range of 20 to 30 °C proved to be very effective when it comes to human comfort range as PCM stores 5 to 15 times more heat per unit volume than conventional materials like rock, water or stone.

Market Analysis:

According to a research report, the size of global phasechange material market was $460 million in 2013 which is estimated to reach $1,150 million by 2018. The firm estimates that, the PCM market is growing atvery attractive CAGR rate of 20.1% from 2013-2018.

Source: www.cryopak.com

The main growth drivers for this market are energy saving, eco friendliness and vast application base in various industries including building & construction, HVAC, cold storage, refrigeration, thermal energy storage, electronics etc. The market will see new opportunities and growing demand with reduction in prices of PCM and advancement in R&D for the materials.

Applications of Phase Change Materials:

• Thermal energy storage
• Cooling of heat and electrical engines
• Cooling: food, beverages, coffee, wine, milk products, green houses
• Conditioning of buildings, such as 'ice-storage'
• Medical applications: transportation of blood, operating tables, hot-cold therapies
• Solar power plants
• Thermal protection of electronic devices
• Thermal protection of food: transport, hotel trade, ice-cream, etc.
• Passive storage in bioclimatic building/architecture (HDPE, paraffin)
• Spacecraft thermal systems
• Thermal comfort in vehicles
• Textiles used in clothing
• Computer cooling

Source: freespace.virgin.net

There is a leading change going on these days for the uses of organic to inorganic PCMs. Inorganic PCMs dominate the market with regards to volume while organic PCMs dominate in terms of value.

Key Players in the phase change materials market are as follows:

• Sonoco Products Co., (U.S.)
• Cryopak (U.S.)
• DuPont (U.S.)
• Entropy Solutions Inc., (U.S.)
• Microtek Labs (U.S.)
• Micron Technology Inc.(U.S.)
• Phase Change Energy Solutions (U.S.)
• Laird PLC (UK)
• Datum Phase Change (UK)
• Advansa B.V. (Netherlands)
• Salca B.V. (Netherlands)
• PCM Energy, and (India)
• Pluss Polymers Pvt. Ltd (India)

Fire and Safety Issues:

Phase change materials are toxic & flammable as well as some PCMs are non-toxic. So a careful decision must be taken while choosing any PCM with regards to the building codes and engineering practices.  

European market is witnessing the highest growth because of most no. of companies established in the region. North America is another important market growing at a fast rate. Main reasons behind development of phase change materials industry are high cost of energy, wide application base & regulations imposed by governments.  

There are selected companies in phase change material market across the globe. The competition in this market is low. Most of the companies are focusing their marketing strategies around increasing awareness about the products and its advantages. The widely accepted growth strategy for market is new product development and creating new market  for phase change materials. With a high CAGR of above 20% from 2013-2018, PCM market has the promising opportunities in the years to come. 

For more info about Phase Change Materials Market, visit @

http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/PressReleases/advanced-phase-change-material-pcm.asp 

Increasing Demand of Seed Treatment Across The World

Source: www.bayercropscience.us

The seed treatment market is a part of crop protection market. Basically, it consists of Chemical seed treatments and Non-chemical seed treatment.

Chemical seed treatment consist of insecticides, fungicides and products like plant growth regulators, safeners & micronutrients all these made up of inorganic chemicals.

Seed treatment market is dominated by chemicals seed treatments contributing as much as 98% market leaving very little scope for non chemicals like safeners, micronutrients, and plant growth regulators.

The seed treatment market can be studied on the basis of product types, applications & geographic areas.

On the basis of type, it is classified as chemicals & non-chemicals. On the basis of application, it is classified as fungicide, insecticide, bio-control & others. Crop types such as cereals, oilseed & others can also be used to segment the market.

The market having revenue of $1,253.5 million in 2012 is expected to grow to $2,240.9 million by2018, at a CAGR of 10.2%.

90.9 % of seed treatment market was acquired by U.S. in 2012. There is a constant increase over awareness about consequences of agrochemicals residues in food. This is helping to increase demand of seed treatment across the world.

According to a report from 2012, Seed treatment insecticides are the largest segment of chemical seed treatment market with 51.3 & shares followed by seed treatment fungicides with 34.7 % of market shares.

 

Source: www.agro.basf.com

Chemical seed treatment uses petrochemicals & inorganic raw materials. The fungicide seed treatments market is growing at a CAGR of 7.6% and is expected to reach $692.0 million by 2018. The insecticides seed treatment market is projected to reach $1,161.9 million by 2018, growing at a CAGR of 10.5%

Non Chemical seed treatment is the bio based seed treatment, having raw materials as renewable resources and contains natural active ingredients. These materials are eco-friendly and have no negative effect to consumer and workforce safety. It is one of the fastest growing seed treatment market in the near future.

When it comes to growth strategy, Innovation is the best way to lead this market. Highly innovating companies having more no. of patented products are the market leaders for this market.   

Source: scientificbeekeeping.com

Key innovators in this market are as follows:  

• Chemtura (U.S.),
• DuPont (U.S.),
• Monsanto (U.S.),
• Valent (U.S.A) and
• Wolf Trax (Canada).

Also, there are some companies practicing bio-control seed treatment which have natural active ingredients in it.

Key participants in the Bio-control segment include:

• Plant Health Care (U.S.) and
• Becker Underwood (U.S.).

Major reasons for increasing demand of seed treatment market are raising GM seed prices and cost effectiveness of seed treatments over crop protection chemicals.

High degree of innovation in the field of seeds and crop industry due to advancement of biotechnology is proved to be a critical success factor for seed treatment industry.  The latest innovations proved to be successful in generating the seeds with varied traits and having stronger resistance to diseases.

We can say that there is a 3- dimensional innovation in seed treatment market as growth-friendly, crop-friendly & environment friendly. These are helping the key marketers to develop their growth strategies for the coming future. 

Service Types & Application Areas of Well Intervention Industry

Well intervention or well work activity provides well diagnostics and manages production of the well. These operations are carried on oil or gas well to maintain or increase its productivity. 

Source: www.offshoreenergytoday.com

The global market for well intervention is growing at a high rate. The offshore well intervention market having 37% shares in 2012 is expected to hold 46% market share by 2018.

Well intervention is used in different processes. Some of the important types of well intervention processes are mentioned below:

1.   Pumping

The simplest form of intervention is pumping where no hardware is used inside the well. The pumping process involves rigging up to the kill wing valve on the Christmas tree and pumping the required chemicals into the well.

2.   Wellhead and Christmas tree maintenance

The complexity of Wellhead and Christmas tree maintenance can vary depending on the condition of the wellheads. Scheduled annual maintenance may simply involve greasing and pressure testing the valve on the hardware. Sometimes the downhole safety valve is pressure tested as well.

3.   Slickline

Slickline operations may be used for fishing, gauge cutting, setting or removing plugs, deploying or removing wireline retrievable valves, and memory logging.

4.   Coiled tubing

Coiled tubing is used when it is desired to pump chemicals directly to the bottom of the well, such as in a circulating operation or a chemical wash. It can also be used for tasks normally done by wireline if the deviation in the well is too severe for gravity to lower the toolstring and circumstances prevent the use of a wireline tractor.

5.   Snubbing

Snubbing, also known as hydraulic workover, involves forcing a string of pipe into the well against wellbore pressure to perform the required tasks. The rigup is larger than for coiled tubing and the pipe more rigid.

6.   Workover

In some older wells, changing reservoir conditions or deteriorating condition of the completion may necessitate pulling it out to replace it with a fresh completion.

7.   Subsea well Intervention

Subsea well intervention is somewhat more challenging which requires advance planning. This type is mainly used in high or medium intervention vessels such as snubbing and workover.  

Source: www.offshoreenergytoday.com

The global market for well intervention consists of different types of services and its applications in different areas. Detailed analysis of well intervention market gives rise to many factors like market drivers, threats & opportunities in the market etc.

Main service areas of this market are bottom hole surveys, stimulation jobs, tubing/packer failure & repair, zonal isolations operations, remedial cementing, fishing, re-perforation, artificial lift services and sand control services.

The demand for workover services is increasing because it is more useful in the oil and gas production from aging brown fields. The demand for well intervention services is increasing globally due to increased demand & large investments for oil field developments. America is the region with most no. of market shares followed by Europe & Asia-Pacific.

Oil field developments in the U.S. are said to be largest end user industry for well intervention services.

Well Intervention: $17.48 billion market by 2018 signify firm annualized growth rate of 11.9%

Well intervention market has huge potential, the reason behind that is existing oil reserves are depleting at a high rate which forces oil companies to operate in offshore site.  Another factor is the increasing energy demand. To satisfy the increasing demand of oil and gas, oil companies are looking for unlocking the full potential of wells.

Hence, there is a large scope for improvement in equipments and technologies of well intervention. In order to maintain production of oil & gas as per demand, it is important to maintain wells and extract the maximum resources.

Most of the key market players in this market are based in Americas whereas players with significant market base are in Europe. The other countries are witnessing emerging trends of the market.

Key market players in this market are:

• Schlumberger Ltd (U.S.),
• Weatherford International Ltd (Switzerland),
• Aker Solutions ASA (Norway),
• Archer – The Well Company (Bermuda),
• Halliburton Co. (U.S.),
• Superior Energy Services (U.S.),
• Nabors Industries Ltd (Bermuda),
• Baker Hughes Inc. (U.S.)

The growth strategy of this industry is developed by strategies of key market players. The commonly used growth strategies by key players in this market are merger & acquisition, diversification & expansions, NPD or new services and improvement in technology.

The global market for well intervention is growing at a high rate. The offshore well intervention market having 37% shares in 2012 is expected to hold 46% market share by 2018.

Logging & bottom hole survey, tubing/packer failure & repair, and stimulation are the major well intervention market contributing 50% of the market.

The demand for technologically advanced and cost effective intervention solutions leads to launch highly innovative and integrated intervention services.

The cost effective intervention technologies are proved to be very useful for companies to expand growth strategy into new and emerging market.

For More Info on Well Intervention Market, visit @

http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/PressReleases/well-intervention.asp

Thin Film Materials and its Applications

Source: www.uspvmc.org

A thin film is a layer consisting of materials with thickness ranging from a nanometer to several micrometers. Thin films are mainly used in optical coating and semiconductor devices.

The very close application of thin film coating is found in the mirrors which we used in our house. As we can see that a piece of glass is coated with the thin metal from backside to form a reflective surface. Similarly, two way mirrors are produced by using a very thin coating of <50 nanometers in thickness.

Optical coating can be improved in its functionalities by using many layers of thin film coating, each having different thickness and refractive index.

Know more about thin film market to get latest trends.

Ferromagnetic and ferroelectric thin films are used to produce computer memory chips. Other applications of thin film include pharma sector, thin-film batteries, and dye-sensitized solar cells. Thin film is referred as a process manufacturing and also as an element of thermal print head.

Ceramic Thin Films:

http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/advanced-functional-material-1221.html

Ceramic films are high in hardness and are chemically inert. These properties are useful in protection of materials against corrosion, oxidation and wearing. Ceramic thin films are widely used in many applications. Also, it is used as a coating on cutting tools. This helps to the coating tools to increase its life by many years.

Research is going on a new type of thin film inorganic oxide materials called as amorphous heavy-metal multicomponent oxides. This new type is used to produce transparent transistors which are stable, inexpensive and eco friendly.

Thin-film photovoltaic cells

Thin films require less production cost due to reduced raw materials. Also, capital cost, transportation cost and energy cost is less in case of thin films. This helps thin films to be used to reduce cost of photovoltaic systems. It is mostly used in the latest generations of photovoltaic cell.

Thin-film batteries

Thin films are used very creatively to produce batteries with specialized applications. Here solid state lithium polymers are used. Batteries of any shape and size can be produced which are placed directly onto chips. Flexible batteries can be made by printing thin films onto plastics, paper or thin metal foil.

Source: www.nrel.gov

Governments across the world are aware about adoption of environment friendly technologies. Countries like the U.S., U.K., India and Germany are offering fiscal incentives and schemes to encourage use of renewable energy. Due to increasing awareness about climate change and global warming, solar energy industry becomes of prime importance.  To supplement this, thin film energy offers solutions which are inexpensive, effective, and reliable and eco friendly. 

The way at which miniaturization is offered so easily by the thin film materials becomes one of the important factor to increase utilization of micro components for MEMS industry.

Thin Film Materials vs. Conventional Film materials

When we consider the efficiency offered by the two types, conventional or crystalline PV cells are much better than thin film materials. Crystalline PV cells have efficiency of around 24% while that of the thin film ranges between 7-20%. This is one of the restraining factors for this market.

Thin film market is growing at a healthy CAGR and is expected to grow up to $10,250 million by 2018. Europe has the most no. of end users for this market which makes it to dominate the global market for thin film materials. North America and Asia follows the suit after Europe.  

Advantages:

Flexibility and ability to work under low light

Market Overview:

Mainly, three types of thin film materials can be identified as amorphous silica (a-Si), Cadmium telluride (CdTe) and Copper Indium Gallium Selenide (CIGS).

The factors identified as the major demand drivers for growth of thin film material market are listed below:

•  Advancement in technology
• High demand from current & emerging applications
• Increased demand for efficiency & miniaturization
• Govt. policies & Subsidies.

The restraining factors for this market are low conversion efficiency and huge investment required in R&D operations.

Source: www.asdreports.com

The thin film material market is anticipated to increase at a healthy rate annually, to reach $10,250 million, by 2018. It is primarily used in MEMS, photovoltaic solar cells, semiconductor, electrical, and optical coating. The photovoltaic solar cells industry is growing rapidly, while the MEMS industry is experiencing steady growth.

The global market for thin film materials is spread across the globe from Europe, North America, and Asia-Pacific to the Middle East and Africa.  Countries like U.S. Germany, France, Italy, China, India and Japan are the major market.

Applications:

• Thin film technology is used in diverse fields of applications such as
•  packaging (aluminum coated film),
• electronics (semiconductors, insulators, ICs),
• manufacturing of optics (reflective & anti-reflective glasses) and
• Contemporary arts,
• It is also used in some similar processes like purification of copper by electroplating

The major end-user industries for thin film market are:

• photovoltaic solar cells,
• microelectromechnical systems (MEMS),
• semiconductor,
• electrical (circuit boards) and
• Optical coating.

The major players in thin film market are

1. Anwell Solar (Hong Kong)
2. Ascent Solar (U.S.)
3.  Avancis GmbH & Co. (Germany),
4.  Cicor Group (Switzerland),
5.  First Soalr (U.S.),
6. Hanergy (China),
7.  Kaneka (Japan),
8.  Masdar PV(Germany),
9. Moser Baer(India),
10. Solar Frontier (Japan),
11. Suntech Power Co. Ltd. (China), and
12. Trony Solar Holdings Co. Ltd. (China)

It is very essential to implement most effective growth strategy in the dynamic market environment so analyzing various marketing trends will help to gain competitive edge.

Get the latest market research report @
http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/PressReleases/thin-film-material.asp

Biotech Traits of Oilseed and Grain Seed- Forecast of the fast growing market to 2018

Source: www.cargill.co.id

As with the increasing population, the demand for the food is also increasing across the globe. And so seeds and other agricultural products are not the exception. The demand for the oilseed and grain seed is increasing day by day. The market for these products is increasing in terms of value. The research report by MarketsandMarkets estimates the global market for oilseed and grain seeds to reach $64,113 million by 2018.

The market is growing at a CAGR of 12.0% from 2013 to 2018.

The key players in oilseed market are:

• Mosanto (U.S.),
• DuPont (U.S.),
• Syngenta (Switzerland), and
• Dow AgroSciences (U.S.)

There are two different approaches to look toward increased demand of biotechnilogically modified seeds.

a) As an end user, everybody expect to get the best quality food which would be economic and high in nutritional value.

b) At the same time, farmers expect to get seeds which can deliver higher yield and have biotech-enhanced food with advanced traits. This will help farmers to increase efficiency and effectiveness of the farm field. Biotechnologically advanced seeds can deliver higher rate of return to the farmers with improved quality of products. These foods can meet the demand- supply gap in the market by providing good quality seeds in large amount.

New innovations in the field of biotechnology can be seen across the world. Every major agricultural & biotech company is investing in research and development activities to make products more and more advanced.

The picture below illustrate the Soybean Process Flow:

Source: www.wilmar-international.com

 Market Analysis:

The market segmentation is done on geographical basis such as Asia-Pacific, North America, Europe and Rest of the World. North America being the largest oilseed market with 80% revenue coming from the U.S. At the same time Latin America is the fastest growing market where Brazil holds maximum no. of market share in 2012.

Asia-Pacific is the market leader in the world for Rice and cotton. China tops in this market with India being second. North America and Europe is considered to be the major producers of corn and oilseed. These seeds have special traits like herbicide resistance, insecticide resistance and some other useful traits.

The global market for oilseed is growing at a fast rate. According to a market research conducted by MarketsandMarkets, it is estimated that oilseed and green seed market of $ 33,302.1 million in 2012. As this trend is expected to be continued in the coming years, the market will reach to $64,113.0 million in 2018. From 2012 to 2018 the market will grow at a CAGR of 12.0%.

North America, China, India, Brazil are the important countries for this market. North America is the largest market for oilseed and grain seeds and will continue to lead the market in next future. The major players are adopting new technologies to make advanced product and get competitive advantage. Looking at the different types of oilseeds, corn has the largest market share followed by soybean, in term of value.

U.S. market is largely associated with trait oriented seed where herbicide resistant seed lead the market of seed with trait followed by insect resistant trait used to protect crops.

The advances of genetic engineering are helpful to make seeds with desired trait and ignore the unnecessary trait. So applications of genetic engineering are implemented in the field of oilseed market to produce different seeds with traits like insect resistance, herbicide resistance, disease resistance, abiotic stress tolerance, quality pollination control system etc.

Oilseed & Grain Seed: Market Revenue & Share, By Geography, 2011 - 2018 ($Million)

Source: www.marketsandmarkets.com

The Effect of Biodiesel Prices on Oilseed Markets

There is a strong relation between biodiesel production and its raw materials i.e. oilseeds. It is a matter of debate whether oilseed to be used for biodiesel production or not because a large no. of world population is still unable to get sufficient food to live life.

Source: news.agropages.com

Soybeans and Canola are used to produce biodiesel and the price of Canola is mainly responsible to decide price of end product i.e. biodiesel. Here why Soybean prices are not important is because it produces less amount of oil as compared to Canola. There is interdependence between these two so price of biodiesel must be decided accordingly so that market equilibrium should be maintained.

Oilseed crushing produces joint products-oil and meal-and this weakens the link between the biodiesel and oilseed feedstock prices. 

For more info visit @

http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownload.asp?id=1215 

Chemical, Oil & Energy Industry-Overview, Market Research& forecast : Commercial Applications of Propionic Acid

Chemical, Oil & Energy Industry-Overview, Market Research& forecast : Commercial Applications of Propionic Acid: Source: commons.wikimedia.org According to the market research report, global market for Propionic acid was near about $ 935.7 milli...

Commercial Applications of Propionic Acid in Various Sectors

Source: commons.wikimedia.org

According to the market research report, global market for Propionic acid was near about $ 935.7 million in 2012. The projected growth of this market till 2018 said that it will reach $ 1,608.8 million. 

CH₃CH₂COOH, a three-carbon carboxylic acid commonly known as Propionic acid is a colourless, clear liquid having pungent odour. It may cause irritation to human body when used with carelessness.

It is formed as a result of chemical reaction between hydrocarboxylation of ethylene in the presence of nickel carbonyl as a catalyst.

Source: www.prathista.com

Propionic acid is used as fungicide and bactericide which is used to control fungi and bacteria present in grains, poultry litter and drinking water for livestock and poultry. It is available in the liquid form which can be sprayed onto grains or grains storage areas. It is a normal component in metabolism process in the human body. Butter and cheese are the main natural sources of Propionic acid.

Propionic acid as its derivatives found its applications in food preservative, herbicides, solvents and pharmaceutical industries. It restricts growth of the bacteria and other microbes which causes food spoiling. It is also used in production of some useful propionates such as thermoplastics. Propionic acids are considered to be one of the safest additives available in the market.

Applications:

• Preservative 
• Herbicide intermediate
• Pharmaceutical intermediate
• Food preservative (calcium and sodium propionate)
• Plastics
• Plasticizers
• Cosmetics
• Anti-mold agent (ammonium propionate)
• Flavoring agent
• Dye intermediates
• Textile and rubber auxiliaries

 

Source: www.prathista.com

In the past few years, the global market for Propionic acid has seen significant growth rates and this trend will continue for the coming years. The driving demand is from the feed, grains & food preservative market.  

In Europe, the ban imposed on antibiotics & its applications since 2006, worked in favour of Propionic acid market which makes Europe as the largest market of it. Europe is still expected to have healthy demand for feed and grain preservative market.

The develop countries like the U.S., Germany, the Netherlands, Canada & Sweden have advanced production facilities which makes them the major exporters of Propionic acid. On the other hand, Russia, India, Brazil, South Africa, France & Spain will be major importers for the acid.

So far, developed countries are the major market for this acid but due to increasing awareness about its benefits, demand from developing markets is also increasing.

The market is expected to grow with a CAGR of 7.8 % from 2013 to 2018.

The major players in this industry are as follows:

1. BASF SE (Germany),
2. The Dow Chemical Company (U.S.),
3. Perstorp (Sweden),
4. Eastman Chemical (U.S.),
5. Niacet Corporation (U.S.)

The market study done by MarketsandMarkets analyzes the demand for 2018 market projecting the trends from 2013. The research study includes qualitative and quantitative methods and discussed major factors like market drivers, opportunities, winning strategies, challenges and threats in the market.

Source: commons.wikimedia.org

The market can be segmented on the basis of applications of Propionic acid like animal feed and grain preservatives, herbicides, cellulose acetate propionate and food preservatives.  

The demand for Propionic acid from food preservative sectors is growing due to the increasing demand to shelf life of the food.

The factors which affect demand for Propionic acid are limited production capacity and lack of technological adaptations in production. 

By having acess to some of the quality market report, the marketers and investors can have better understanding of the business environment which will help them to cope up in the worst condition and to lead the business in the good market condition.

For more info visit @

http://www.prweb.com/releases/propionic-acid/derivatives-market/prweb11670648.htm

Fuel Cell Technology-European Market Overview

Source: www.wikipedia.org

A fuel cell is a device which converts chemical energy into electricity by using fuel as input. Chemical reaction takes place on between fuel and oxygen or some other oxidizing agents.  Hydrogen is mainly used as fuel but sometimes hydrocarbons like alcohols or natural gas can also be used.  

There is a major difference between fuel cell and batteries as fuel cell requires constant supply of fuel & oxygen. Fuel cell can produce electricity as long as there is fuel in it.

It took 100 years to use fuel cell on commercial basis after its invention in 1838. NASA is one of the first to use it to generate power for various devices like satellites and space capsules.

Fuels cells are used as a primary backup power for industries, commercial and residential use.  They are also used in automobiles, bikes, buses, airplanes, boats and submarines.  

Working of Fuel Cell:

Fuel cell consists of an anode and a cathode. Electrolyte is filled within it which contains electrons. When external circuit is connected to it, electrons moves from anode to cathode producing direct current. A single fuel cell produces relatively small electrical potential of 0.7 v so many cells are connected in series to produce higher electric current.

Source: www.protonex.com

There can be 40-60% of energy efficiency to use fuel cell but if generated heat is reused properly, its efficiency will increase up to 85%. Fuel cell market is growing with a good pace and is estimated to reach to 50 GW by 2020.

The technology of converting chemical energy into electrical energy through electromechanical reaction is used in fuel cells, performing functions like an engine for converting fuel into electricity without burning it.

Chemical reaction produces different by products as water, heat, nitrogen oxides etc. When hydrogen is used in fuel cell, it produces water with zero emissions. This is in synergy with the growing demand for eco friendly practices. This results into increasing demand for fuel cell devices.

The list of key players in the industry is given below:  

• AFC Energy (U.K.),
• Heliocentris (Germany),
• Topsoe (Denmark),
• Genport SRL (Italy),
• SFC Energy (Germany), and
• Ceres Power (U.K.)

Markets and Economics: 

In 2012, fuel cell industry revenues exceeded $1 billion market value worldwide, with Asian pacific countries shipping more than 3/4 of the fuel cell systems worldwide Approximately 50% of fuel cell shipments in 2010 were stationary fuel cells, up from about a third in 2009.

Source: www.marketsandmarkets.com

The four dominant producers in the Fuel Cell Industry were the

1.  United States,
2. Germany,
3. Japan and
4. South Korea.

According to aresearch report, the European fuel cell market revenue is expected to reach$613.7 million by 2018. There were 3,776 units’ shipments of fuel cells in 2012which will reach to 333,727 units by 2018. 

Europe has a target of reducing the carbon footprint by 80%. Fuel cells offer a great alternative with zero emission and clean energy source so demand for the fuel cells is increasing. However, establishing fuel cell infrastructure and commercialization of fuel cells is a big challenge from Europe’s point of view.

Classification of fuel cells is done on the basis of type of components used and type of reaction taking place inside the cell. Some of the well known components used are methanol, biogas, natural gas, hydrocarbon and hydrogen. The major primary fuel source for fuel cells is Hydrogen.

Major fuel type/technologies include

• Polymer/Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) Fuel Cell,
• Direct Methanol Fuel Cell, and
• Phosphoric Acid Fuel Cell,
• Solid Oxide Fuel Cell,
• Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell and others.

Polymer/Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) Fuel Cell are the largest type in terms of revenue generating more than half of the revenue. Europe is the leading market of this technology producing more efficient fuel cell systems. The European fuel cell market is segmented on different basis as applications, types, regions and types of primary fuel source used in.    

Developing hydrogen infrastructure can be seen in Germany and U.K. Germany is having the largest market share followed by U.K. & rest of Europe.

 

Source: ec.europa.eu

The very common factor in market development strategies of key players is expansion and diversification of geographical areas. Agreements, contracts, joint ventures, merger and acquisition are the common techniques for the marketers.

Marketers are using the strategies like agreements, collaborations & partnerships penetrate the existing market, and expansion into the new and emerging markets. A quality research on fuel cell technology will focus on winning strategies, burning issues, market drivers, challenges, threats and opportunities.

For more info visit @

http://www.sbwire.com/press-releases/europe-fuel-cell-technology-market-expected-to-reach-6137-million-by-2018-455825.htm