Construction chemicals demand soars with expanding global infrastructure

28 Sep 2016



Construction chemicals are an integral part of virtually all kinds of construction projects nowadays.

Industrial, residential, commercial, or repair, most building projects utilize these chemicals in various stages in order to achieve features such as durability, workability, weather resistance, and waste reduction among others.

Residential and infrastructure segments provide the most utility to construction chemicals due to increasing population and standard of living.

Industrial construction is a very specialized, and niche form of construction that requires specific training, and expertise for all contractors and engineers that work in the field. The evolution of modern machinery and engineering has changed the industrial segment in the last two decades, this technological leap has helped drive the industrialization into emerging economies, such as Asia-Pacific and LAMEA.

Repair and rehabilitation is essential towards maintaining the buildings and structures already constructed. It is essential for the structure to be restored and patched-up from the effects of environmental hazards to maintain its architecture stability. This segment of the construction chemicals market is limited and largely unexplored.

The repair for structures is conducted for old buildings and infrastructure, thus this segment pertains principally to European and North American market. The induction of these chemicals increase the lifespan of structures and utilize energy conserving materials, thus reducing the cost of the initiative.

Segmented market

The world construction chemicals market is segmented based on types as concrete admixtures, water proofing & roofing, repair, flooring, sealants & adhesives, and others. For preparing concrete, cement is mixed with crushed rock, sand and water in specific proportions, to get better results, better workability, more strength, and finishing, cement or mortar admixtures are used.

Admixtures are used during the first stage of construction. Ligno based, SNF (Sulfonated Naphthalene Formaldehyde) & SMF (Sulfonated Melamine Formaldehyde) based and PCE based are the three types of admixtures mostly prevalent in the market.

Water proofing and roofing caters to various end use applications with products based on Bitumen, PU and polymers like SBR & Acrylic. These compounds are available in liquid, solid, slurry and two-component coating forms. Application of the water proofing compounds can be done by implant treatments i.e. either dipping or spraying or by low-pressure spraying on the surface.

The price of products varies depending on the raw material used, this industry is moving away from bituminous compounds due to their lower performance and non-eco-friendly nature.

Flooring compounds are used for giving extra strength for the foundations of load-bearing structures. These compounds have different chemistries depending on the end-use, and can be made to have special characteristics such as fast setting, free flow, on-shrink and others by addition of different additives as per the end-user requirement.

Epoxy-based liquid flooring compounds are mainly injected into the walls to fill hairline cracks and gaps, thereby improving the strength of the structure. Cementitious compounds are used for imparting extra strength to machine foundations, base plate or anchor bolts for machines or equipment and others.

They are also used for repair of building structures and in heavy industries such as steel, power plants and ports. Polyester-based compounds are also available, which are used for anchoring to impart strength to foundations that must be achieved in limited available space.

Construction growth in emerging markets

Increasing number of urban population is the foremost reason for the growth of Asia-Pacific construction chemicals market.

Along with this, industrial growth is also adopted for municipal purposes in order to clean and recycle the water before it is used for drinking and sanitation. China is the leader in Asia-Pacific market consuming nearly 17% of the world construction chemicals, other high development regions include Japan and India.

The residential and infrastructure segments of the market dominate in this region owing to the unremitting growth of urban demographic and better infrastructure. LAMEA is the premier region in construction chemicals market due to high demand for residential construction and ample room for infrastructure development.

Emerging markets in global economy such as Brazil, South Africa, Saudi Arabia and Egypt are growing at an incredible pace and require heavy construction initiatives to compete at the global level.

The emergence of new markets in LAMEA region has boosted construction schemes and elevated the living conditions of the population. Urbanization rate is also responsible for the growth in residential structures, as the need for domiciliary buildings is perennial.

Source: Allied Market Research