According to a new technical market research report, ENVIRONMENTAL MARKETS FOR BIOTECHNOLOGY from BCC Research, the U.S. market for environmental biotechnology products for waste treatment is expected to be worth $180.2 million in 2008. This is expected to increase to $261.3 million by 2013, a compound average annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.7%.

The market is broken down into applications of microbial blends, nutrients, enzymes and microbes. Of these, microbial blends have the largest share of the environmental biotechnology market. Expected to be worth $89.2 million in 2008, this segment will increase to $130.6 million in 2013 for a CAGR of 7.9%. Microbial blends will continue to hold the highest sales as the most versatile product choice for a wide variety of treatments.

Nutrients, the second largest segment, will increase at a slightly faster pace with sales in 2008 of $43.6 million and $66.2 million in 2013, representing a CAGR of 8.7%.

Enzymes will grow at a slower pace from $32.0 million in 2008 to $40.4 million in 2013, for a CAGR of 4.8%, due to relatively limited potential compared to the products forecasted, and limited effectiveness.

Microbes are expected to grow from $15.5 million in 2008 to $24.1 million in 2013, for the highest CAGR of 9.3%. Microbes are expected to increase in relation to growing biofuel production from anaerobic waste treatment methods.

As technological advances have taken shape, nature has been transformed by science and offers us unlimited potential in using environmental biotechnology through improved products, application methods and processes that allow us to clean up our past waste problems and control our growing waste streams now and in the future. Biotechnology also has a promising future in helping us meet our energy demands by converting waste to biofuels.