Sulfuric Acid Market Overview

In 2020, the sulfuric acid market value is registered as USD 10.22 billion and is expected to grow at a significant rate of 2.76% CAGR with the sulfuric acid market size of USD 12.36 billion during the forecast period (2021-2027).

Sulfuric acid plays a vital role in the production of pesticides, fertilizers, etc. Agriculture sector is a highly grown sector which reached new heights in the past few decades. By volume, the sulfuric acid production industry is one of the world’s biggest chemical industries. Apart, sulfuric acid is also used in cleaning products and cleaning drains. Moreover, sulfuric acid is also used in automotive industries.

Sulfuric acid is a strong, acidic mineral acid. This chemical is composed of hydrogen, sulfur, and oxygen that has both dehydrating and hygroscopic properties. This acid is used in the production of various chemicals like nitric acid, hydraulic acid, sulfate salts, synthetic detergents, dyes, pigments, explosives, and drugs. Apart, it is used in the production of ammonium phosphate and ammonium sulfate. According to World Steel Association, in January 2020, the US produced 7.7Mt of crude steel which is an increase of 2.5% to January 2019. The rising steel production leads to escalating the sulfuric acid market growth.

COVID-19 Analysis:

Due to the rise of COVID-19 from the last few years across the world, every market and industry is facing various unexpected challenges. The implementation of lockdown results in a huge decline in the economy. Due to this pandemic situation, some industries experienced loss and debt, whereas some industries look to profit and rise in demand like healthcare sectors, chemical industries, and pharmaceutical industries.

Sulphuric acid is used in the production of pesticides and cleaning products which is very essential in the pandemic situation. Cleaning is highly essential in the pandemic situation and the demand for cleaning products rises in this period. Hence the sulphuric acid market is added growth by this pandemic. Even though, a bit of decline in growth rate can be noticed due to the nation-wide lockdowns all over the world. After the reduction of corona cases, the government removes the lockdown and rapidly it regains its demand and sales of the market.

Market Dynamics:

Drivers:

Due to the growing population, reducing the agricultural land, and increasing demand for nutrient-rich food crops, the agriculture sector needs to produce more and wasteless yield. To obtain the best amount of yield, the agriculture sector has demanded the best fertilizers which are boosting the sulfuric acid market growth. Sulfuric acid is having multiple applications as it is having high demand in automotive industries, metal processing, and many more.

Sulphuric acid acts as a dehydrating agent, catalyst, and reactant in various industries like fertilizers,  paper & pulp,  petroleum efficiency, chemical manufacturing, automotive, and metal processing which increases the demand for the product to raise the market growth. The rising demand for sulphuric acid in the production of phosphate fertilizers is propelling market growth. According to the report of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), in 2017, the global demand for phosphate fertilizers was 43.2 million tons and it is estimated to increase this demand by 45.8 million in 2020 which is driving the global market growth.

Restraint:

The surplus amount of materials weakens the sales of sulfuric acid which is restraining the market growth. Due to the high side effects and pollution of the environment, chemical industries are regulated with stringent rules. As sulfuric acid is a harmful substance, it is regulated strictly.

Opportunities:

Increasing the use of oleum may create the opportunity to increase market growth.

Challenges:

As the price of raw materials is fluctuating all the time. So, the fixed price of sulfuric acid is impossible to estimate the worth in the coming years.

Study Objectives -

• To provide detailed information about the sulfuric acid market structure along with various forecast segments and subsegments for the next 10 years.


• To provide the factors that are affecting the growth of the sulfuric acid market value.


• To analyze the sulfuric acid market industry analysis based on porter’s five force analysis, factors-price analysis, supply chain analysis, etc.


• To provide history and forecast revenue segments and sub-segments of the sulfuric acid market revenue for the main geographies.


• To provide the country-level analysis of the current sulfuric acid market size and future prospective.


• To provide country-level analysis of the sulfuric acid market industry growth by region, form, and application.

Segment Overview:

The global sulfuric acid market has been divided into segments based on raw material, application, and region.

Based on Raw Material

The global sulfuric acid market based on raw material is classified into the elemental sulfur base metal, smelters pyrite ore, and others (from oil & petroleum refineries). Among them, the elemental sulfur base element is leading the market due to the abundance of elemental sulfur in the market. Due to the use of sulfur in the production of sulfuric acid, it is less polluted compared to pyrite ore roasting and base metal smelter where factories need to adopt strict procedures for treating the emitted sulfuric acid gases before releasing them in the atmosphere.

Based on Application

The sulfuric acid application is categorized into various types such as chemical manufacturing, fertilizers, metal processing, petroleum refining, textile industry, automotive, pulp & paper, and others. Among these applications, the fertilizers segment is predicted to dominate the market share due to the growing population across the world which leads to a rise in demand for better quality food crops. Due to rapid industrialization and urbanization, there is a decline in hectares of arable land. In this situation, fertilizers are used by farmers to increase the crop yield which is propelling the demand for sulphuric acid in the coming years.

Based on Region

Region-wise, the global sulfuric acid market is divided into Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, North America, and the Rest of the World. The most promising and largest growth achiever market in this segment is the Asia Pacific region. The demand is most likely to grow exponentially in the Asia Pacific market.

Regional Analysis -

Geographically, the sulfuric acid market is analyzed into five major regions like Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia-Pacific, and the Rest of the World. The factors such as the easy availability of raw materials, flourishing​ chemical industry, and growing developmental strategies like setting up production facilities to reach the growing demand for sulfuric acid make the Asia-Pacific hold the maximum sulfuric acid market share in the forthcoming years. The largest market for sulfuric acid in this region is China. Increasing the production of cereals leads to the consumption of fertilizers that increases the growth of sulfuric acid in the regional market during the review period.

Competitive Landscape

The prominent key players in the sulfuric acid market outlook are the following:

• Agrium


• Akzo Nobel


• Bayer


• Bp


• Chevron


• Cytec Industries


• Dupont


• Evonik Industries


• Honeywell


• and Solvay

Recent Developments

September 2021- ioneer Ltd has offered DuPont Clean Technologies a deal to authorize, develop, and supply proprietary equipment for the intended sulphuric acid plant at DuPont's Rhyolite Ridge lithium-boron project based in Nevada, USA.
DuPont, a specialty technology provider, will operate with engineering partner SNC-Lavalin on the plan's design, offering best-in-class MECS® sulphuric acid manufacturing technology for a 3,500 t/d capacity and regulates that limit emissions to in the lowest in the world for this type of facility.

October 2021 - PVS Chemicals Belgium N.V. (PVS) has effectively started up the latest MECS® converter and steaming equipment, approved by DuPont Clean Technologies at its sulfuric acid plant in Gent, Belgium. The latest 4-pass converter that provides a plant capacity boost to over 300 mtpd sulfuric acid substitutes two parallel converter trains.

October 2021- Nuberg EPC has been offered two sulfuric acid plant projects in Oromia, Ethiopia, and Gamasa City, Egypt. The 50 tpd sulfuric acid and 40 tpd aluminium sulfate revamp project in Ethiopia, and 500 million tpd and 5 M.W. Rating STG Set in Egypt have been awarded on EPC and LSTK basis. The Ethiopia project will likely be done in 15 months and the Egypt project in 22 months from the contract L.C. opening date.

In October 2016, the highly populated US-based company named Mosaic company (U.S) introduced a micronutrient-enhanced potash granular fertilizer named Aspire which is proven to increase yields. This product launch helped the company to expand its premium line of fertilizer products.

In December 2016, the leading key player, Mosaic Company (U.S) acquired a well-known multinational company for its metal and mining work which is the business of the most famous enterpriser Vale S.A (Brazil), Vale Fertilizantes. In Brazil, Mosaic Company is holding the leading position of fertilizer production and distribution which is also known as one of the world’s preeminent agricultural markets.

In December 2015, the famous enterprisers Groupe Chimique Tunisien (GCT) and Chinese companies took an agreement for producing the new formulation with an annual production capacity of 400,000 tons which is named super triple phosphate production unit.

November 26, 2019 –DuPont Clean Technologies (the US), a global leader in process technology licensing and engineering, announced that its sulphuric acid technology - MECS® has been selected by a leading mineral development company in Canada - NioCorp Developments Ltd. The MECS technology would be used at NioCorp's Superalloy Materials Project in southeast Nebraska. The MECS sulphuric acid plant will be designed to maximize energy recovery and emissions control to ensure best-in-class environmental performance.

Report Overview:

This global sulfuric acid market research includes the Market Overview, COVID-19 analysis, Market Dynamics, Study Objectives, Segment Overview, Regional Analysis, Competitive Landscape, Recent developments, Segmentation Table, and FAQs. The market scenario includes the sulfuric acid market drivers, restraints, challenges, and opportunities. The sulfuric acid market forecast segments are raw material, application, and region.

Segmentation Table

The sulfuric acid market trends have been segmented globally based on the raw material, application, and region.

By Raw Material

Elemental sulfur base metal, smelters pyrite ore, and others (from oil & petroleum refineries).

By Region

Asia-Pacific, Europe, North America, and the rest of the world are the four main geographies included in the sulfuric acid market.

Report Scope:

Report Attribute/Metric	Details
Market Size	2030: Significant value
CAGR	5.6% CAGR (2022-2030)
Base Year	2021
Forecast Period	2022 to 2030
Historical Data	2019 & 2020
Forecast Units	Value (USD Million)
Report Coverage	Revenue Forecast, Competitive Landscape, Growth Factors, and Trends
Segments Covered	By Type, By Application and Region
Geographies Covered	North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Rest of the World (RoW)
Key Vendors	Agrium, Akzo Nobel, Bayer, Bp, Chevron, Cytec Industries, Dupont, Evonik Industries, Honeywell and Solvay
Key Market Opportunities	Increasing its demand due to industrial cleaning agents as sulfuric acid is also utilized in cleaning agent and drain cleaner.
Key Market Drivers	The drivers for sulfuric acid market are automotive industry and chemical industry.

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