Thionyl Chloride Market Trends

Growth Drivers

• Expanding pharmaceutical industry: Thionyl chloride has wide applications in the synthesis of intermediates and APIs of pharmaceuticals. Growth in emerging markets remains one of the key drivers for thionyl chloride demand. Production under the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme started in the country way back in March 2021 to increase indigenous pharma production. With this, the indigenous production has gone up, and thereby consumption also increased. Moreover, continued improvement in formulations is raising the demand for high-quality reagents such as thionyl chloride.
• Growing demand for agrochemicals: Increasing demand for more agricultural output leads to an increased application of agrochemicals, for which thionyl chloride is used as a starting material. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reports that pesticide usage is on the increase all over the globe. This helps the farmers to meet the food requirements of the rising population. Besides, as optimization of crop yield is one of the key focus areas across the world, the contribution of chemical inputs such as thionyl chloride is expected to grow stronger in the segment of agrochemicals.
• Battery market growth: Thionyl chloride-based lithium batteries feature a long shelf life and high energy density; hence, they can be employed as reliable sources of power in medical equipment and military devices. In January 2021, MilliporeSigma acquired AmpTec with the view to further develop its advanced therapy and diagnostics platform. This illustrates the increasing requirement for more robust, high-performance power solutions. This is one of the trends that has marked the use of thionyl chloride in contributing toward sustainable and long-lasting energy solutions in very high-stake applications.

Challenges

• Environmental regulations: Thionyl chloride is a hazardous substance and hence comes under severe environmental regulations for its production and handling. Compliance with such environmental rules increases the manufacturing cost. In February 2021, the European Chemicals Agency revised the REACH regulation guidelines and, along with that, increased the control measures over hazardous materials like thionyl chloride, affecting the production process and cost management.
• Health and Safety Issues: The hazardous, corrosive, and toxic nature of thionyl chloride heightens the demand for health and safety in the workplace. OSHA (the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in the United States) called for better safety conditions around any hazardous chemical, including thionyl chloride, as it updated its chemical exposure standards to ensure worker safety in June 2022.