Biopolymers: Sophisticated Materials with Growing Market Potential - 3rd Edition

BIOPOLYMERS: SOPHISTICATED MATERIALS WITH GROWING MARKET POTENTIAL, 3RD EDITION

Biopolymers are diverse and versatile class of materials that have potential applications in many sectors of the economy. Currently, many biopolymers are still in the developmental stage, but important applications are beginning to emerge in packaging, food production, and medicine. We have reached a critical point in the development of biopolymers for many applications. It is, therefore, an opportune time for a comprehensive report detailing promising new developments in this field.

This report is based on primary and secondary research by a team of Technical Insights analysts. It takes you inside the developing companies and tells you about their activities. It reports on the intentions and strategies of the leading players.

Some biopolymers can directly replace synthetically derived materials in traditional applications, whereas others possess unique properties that could open up a range of new commercial opportunities. Established agricultural and chemical firms, as well as small biotechnology companies are investigating novel biopolymer compounds.

The price of biopolymers is still fairly high compared to petroleum-based polymers. This is due to lower production scale and lower price of petroleum. However, growing environmental consciousness and the application of life-cycle evaluations in the material circuit may help biomass-based raw materials to become mass-produced and cheaper, replacing traditional plastics in a number of applications.

Biopolymers' biodegradable state provides solutions to ecological concerns due to excessive use of nondegradable materials. Biopolymers are also biocompatible, resulting in a great influence in the biomedical marketplace. Currently used in sutures, staples, and screws, biopolymers provide structural support but eventually dissolve away and have been used in the augmentation and repair of the human body with a high rate of success.

Medical polymers have attracted considerable commercial interest due to the promises of tissue engineering and the need for replacement organs. There are eight million surgical procedures a year that use either organs or tissues, and the patients that undergo those procedures accumulate between 40 and 80 million hospital days a year. The healthcare costs of those patients exceed $400 billion annually. If medical polymers can address only a fraction of that total, they will still have attained a significant share of the market.

The future of tissue engineering lies in the development of essential technologies in the biological sciences and material engineering. Currently an interdisciplinary field, tissue engineering needs to integrate even more basic biology and fundamental engineering. A variety of engineering design elements, including biomechanics and mass transport, will be critically important to the long-term success of this field.