INDUSTRIAL MICROBIOLOGY MARKET ANALYSIS

Global industrial microbiology market size is estimated to be valued at US$ 15.05 Bn in 2023 and is expected to reach US$ 22.91 Bn by 2030, exhibiting a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.2% from 2023 to 2030.

Global Industrial Microbiology Market Regional Insights

North America has established itself as the dominant region in the global industrial microbiology market. The U.S., in particular, enjoys a sizable market share due to the strong presence of leading life sciences corporations in the country. American companies have made massive investments in research and development (R&D) activities focused on industrial enzymes and fermentation-based products. This commitment to innovation has enabled the development of novel microbial-based solutions for various industries such as biofuel, food processing, and agricultural biopesticides. U.S. faces stringent standards for food safety and environmental protection, driving demand for industrial microbiology services and testing.

While industrial activities in Europe are not as large in scale as compared to North America, companies in Europe are placing increased emphasis on sustainability and the bioeconomy. This focus on 'green growth' presents lucrative opportunities for the industrial microbiology market. Countries like Germany, France, and the Netherlands have emerged as Europe's hotspots for industrial biotechnology due to strong academic research in the domain and government initiatives promoting industrial uptake of biological solutions. European firms recognize the cost advantages and environmental benefits of switching to microbial-based production methods. Growing attention on transitions to circular economy models is expected to further propel the demand for industrial microbiology across European nations.

Asia Pacific has emerged as the fastest-growing region for industrial microbiology. Rapid urbanization and industrialization have significantly driven the growth of upstream sectors like chemicals, construction, pulp & paper, and personal care in countries such as India and China. As domestic manufacturing capabilities strengthen in Asia, plant operators are demonstrating an increased commitment to quality and environmental standards. This is raising the importance of microbiological testing during various industrial processes. Asian governments are extending strong support for the commercialization of technologies developed from synthetic biology and industrial biomanufacturing research programs. International collaborations are also enhancing the region's industrial microbiology infrastructure and expertise. Collectively, these factors will likely sustain Asia Pacific's position as the frontrunner in the growth of the global market.

Figure 1. Global Industrial Microbiology Market Share (%), By Region, 2023

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Analyst View

Global industrial microbiology market is projected to experience steady growth over the forecast period. North America dominates due to sizable investments in R&D by pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in the region. However, Asia Pacific is likely to outpace overall market expansion. China, in particular, is expected to grow at a rapid clip as manufacturing activity rises. Regulatory compliance issues act as a restraint as unique certifications are required for microbial products in different geographies. The market faces challenges that are associated with high R&D costs and lengthy product approval timelines. At the same time, opportunities exist in microbiome therapeutics development. The industrial microbiology applications in biofuel production also provide avenues for revenue growth.

Global Industrial Microbiology Market Drivers:

• Growing demand for diagnostic testing: Global industrial microbiology market is witnessing increased demand for microbiology diagnostic testing services from various industries such as food and beverage, pharmaceutical and biotechnology, and personal care products. Microorganisms play a critical role in various manufacturing processes as well as in quality checks of finished products. However, the presence of unwanted microbes can affect the quality, safety, and shelf-life of products. Therefore, companies extensively rely on microbiological testing at different stages of production to prevent contamination and ensure products meet required standards. Particularly in the food industry, companies are mandated to perform stringent microbiological analysis on raw materials, intermediate, and finished food products. This is to verify the absence of pathogens that can cause foodborne illnesses. Moreover, consumers are increasingly health-conscious and demand safe and high-quality food products. Thus, food manufacturers extensively utilize industrial microbiology services to test for indicators of fecal contamination, pathogens, and general bacterial counts. Similar trends are observed in other industries such as pharmaceuticals and personal care where products need to be microbially stable and free from pathogens. With growing regulations and quality standards as well as increasing outsourcing of testing activities, the demand for microbiological diagnostics services is experiencing continuous growth.
• Advances in industrial biotechnology: Global industrial microbiology market is gaining tremendous opportunities arising from ongoing advances in the field of industrial biotechnology. Modern biotechnology interventions utilizing microbial cells and enzymes are revolutionizing manufacturing processes across diverse industries. Many companies are increasingly adopting environment-friendly and sustainable microbial-based production methods for various chemicals, materials, and fuels as an alternative to traditional fossil fuel-based processes. Advancements such as metabolic engineering and systems biology approaches are enabling the design of novel microbial cell factories for the production of various building block chemicals, specialty products, and biofuels in a cost-effective manner. Biocatalysis using isolated enzymes is also gaining prominence in industry for transforming biomass into higher value products.
• Increasing application of industrial microbiology in enzyme production: The field of industrial microbiology is witnessing considerable advancements in the production of enzymes through fermentation of microorganisms like bacteria and fungi. Enzymes find widespread application in various industries such as food processing, detergents, textiles, and paper pulp. They help improve reactions, lower costs of production and reduce environmental impact. As a result, there is increasing demand for tailored microbial enzymes from sectors. Manufacturers are actively focusing on developing novel strains through genetic engineering and process optimization to commercialize high-yielding and stable enzyme products.

Global Industrial Microbiology Market Opportunities:

• Advancements in microbial strain identification technologies: Advancements in microbial strain identification technologies present a substantial opportunity for growth in the industrial microbiology market. Microorganisms are increasingly being used across various industries like food and beverage, biofuel, health care, agriculture and more. With newer applications being discovered regularly, there is a growing need for precise identification and characterization of microbial strains. Traditional methods of identification based on phenotype analysis can be time consuming, inconsistent, and complex. Emerging use of genomics, proteomics and other ‘omics’ technologies allows for rapid and reliable identification of microbes right down to the strain level. Technologies like whole genome sequencing, matrix assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) mass spectrometry and Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) microarrays are revolutionizing the way industrial microbiologists study and work with different microbial strains. These techniques provide detailed insights into strain properties, genetics and functionality which help optimize industrial processes. They also enable tracking strain performance over multiple industrial applications and geographic locations.
• Increasing R&D for new product development: One of the major opportunities for growth in the industrial microbiology market lies in ramping up research and development (R&D) activities focused on new product innovations. Microorganisms have an enormous potential to develop products and solutions for diverse industry applications such as food and beverage, biofuel, health, agriculture and environment. With continuous R&D, industrial microbiology can facilitate sustainable production of various chemicals, enzymes, polymers, and other materials. Industrial microbiology research is investigating methods to develop new antimicrobials from actinomycetes bacteria to combat drug-resistant pathogens. Researchers are also exploring ways to genetically modify yeast and bacterial strains to produce biofuels and bioplastics from agricultural waste at lower costs.
• Emerging markets in Asia Pacific and Latin America: Emerging markets in the Asia Pacific and Latin American regions hold significant potential to drive growth in the industrial microbiology market. These regions are expected to industrialize rapidly in the near future which will spur demand for advanced microbial technologies across various process industries. Countries such as India, China, Brazil and others are witnessing substantial investments in sectors like food and beverage, biofuel production, wastewater treatment and more. As per United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) data, India's manufacturing sector grew by 13% in 2021 alone indicating a massive scaled-up of production activities. Similarly, according to reports provided by the World Bank, double-digit annual growth rates are highlighted for manufacturing in China, Vietnam, and various other Southeast Asian nations by 2025. This rapid industrialization will bring with the need for sophisticated microbiology-based solutions to enable efficient industrial processes, ensure product quality and optimize yields.

Global Industrial Microbiology Market Trends:

• Shift towards automated industrial microbiology systems: Global industrial microbiology market is seeing a transformational shift towards automated and integrated systems. There is a growing need for advanced microbiological tools that can handle large sample volumes, provide rapid results and detailed analysis with minimal human intervention. This is driven by the biopharmaceutical and food processing industries striving for higher productivity, wider quality testing and stricter compliance with safety regulations. Automated platforms that can handle entire workflows from sample preparation to result readout are becoming increasingly popular. They leverage digital microfluidics, robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) for functions like automated microscopy, cell culture monitoring, and chemical analysis. For example, Novartis, a biopharmaceutical company installed connected microbiology labs across major research sites by using integrated systems for sterility testing of biologics.
• Rising demand for continuous fermentation processes: Rising demand for continuous fermentation processes is having a significant impact on the industrial microbiology market. Continuous fermentation allows for a continuous and consistent production of fermented products over extended periods without interruption. This help to increase productivity and optimize resource utilization as compared to batch fermentation. Many companies are adopting continuous fermentation approaches for the production of various industrial chemicals, biofuels, enzymes, food and beverages, and pharmaceuticals. The shift towards continuous fermentation is driving significant growth in the industrial microbiology market. New market players are entering the space and existing market leaders are investing heavily in this technology.
• Increasing demand for single-use equipment and consumables: Global industrial microbiology market is witnessing a major shift toward single-use equipment and consumables. Manufacturers are increasingly adopting single-use technology to reduce cleaning validation requirements and prevent cross-contamination between batches. This provides benefits in terms of production flexibility, efficiency, and speed to market. It also helps ensure products meet stringent purity standards in industries such as biopharmaceuticals and food & beverage where even small amounts of contamination can pose serious risks. The move to single-use is being driven by various factors. Strict regulations are making cleaning and sterilization of conventional stainless-steel bioreactors more complex and costly. Demand for personalized medicine has heightened needs around agility and rapidly manufacturing small product batches. Single-use products allow companies to avoid downtime needed for cleaning and switch between products much faster. They also require less floor space which is important for facilities with limited production capacity.

Global Industrial Microbiology Market Restraints:

• Premium product pricing: Premium pricing of products and solutions in the industrial microbiology market is proving to be a major roadblock in its growth trajectory. Many essential microbiology tools, equipment, reagents, and consumables are used for quality testing and quality control in various industries like food and beverage, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and others are priced very high. This pricing does not commensurate with the budget and expense structure of small and medium scale industries in developing countries. As a result, several important players in industries like small food processors, nutraceuticals manufacturers among others are hesitant to adopt advanced microbiology testing techniques. They tend to rely on basic and sometimes outdated methods for ensuring microbial quality. This exposes their products and processes to quality risks.

• Lack of standardization: Lack of standardization in the industrial microbiology processes is one of the major challenges restraining the growth of this market. When there are no standardized procedures and protocols, it leads to inconsistencies and variations in the end products. This affects the quality, safety, and efficacy of the products. Manufacturers have to spend additional resources reworking products if they do not meet the quality benchmarks. This increases the costs and brings down margins. The lack of standardized practices also creates difficulties for companies that want to expand globally. Processes that are compliant in one region may not be approved or validated in other regions due to non-uniform guidelines. This inhibits the ability of companies to globalize and scale up operations seamlessly. They have to tailor their production methods as per the local regulations of every region. This disproportionately drives up operational costs for multi-national corporations.

Counterbalance: The key market players need to focus on maintaining safety, quality, and efficacy of the products which will help in driving the market growth.

• Lack of skilled professionals: Lack of skilled microbiology professionals is proving to be a significant roadblock in the expansion of the industrial microbiology market. Microbiologists play a pivotal role in industrial settings as they oversee the cultivation and analysis of microorganisms that are crucial for a wide variety of industrial applications and processes. However, many companies are facing difficulties in recruiting experienced microbiologists. There is a widespread skill gap observed across both developing and developed nations.

Recent Developments

New Product Launches

• In May 2023, Charles River Laboratories, a pharmaceutical company located in the U.S., launched  Accugenix next generation sequencing for bacterial and fungal identification (Accugenix NGS), a key new sequencing option within the firm's Accugenix range of microbial testing solutions. Charles River Laboratories developed the new solution in response to customer feedback and a desire to expand the complexity of the analysis that can be performed using their collected microorganisms.
• In June 2021, Vaisala, a global pioneer in meteorological, environmental, and industrial measurement, launched its best-in-class air quality sensor and monitoring system, which is cost-effective, scalable, accurate, and simple to install, putting cities in charge of air quality choices. The new AQT530 sensor from Vaisala may be linked to the customer's own system or to Vaisala's revolutionary weather and environmental information platform.
• In March 2021, Clarity Movement Co., a global air quality monitoring and data analytics company, launched its air quality monitoring technology to distributors and resellers worldwide. Clarity Movement Co's sensing-as-a-service air quality management system already provides clients in more than 50 countries with hyperlocal air quality data. Sensing-as-a-Service is utilized in poor nations to provide communities with higher-resolution air quality data or to offer air quality monitoring capabilities for the first time at a low cost.

Collaborations

• In November 2023, miDiagnostics NV, a global point-of-care diagnostics technology company, announced a collaboration agreement with Galapagos, a pharmaceutical research company, to develop a closed-flow, ultra-rapid polymerase chain reaction (PCR) sterility test for CAR-T batch release in a decentralized manufacturing setting, in accordance with regulatory requirements, including those in the U.S., Europe, and Japan.
• In March 2023, Clarity Movement Co., an environmental start-up, and Sonoma Technology, a private consulting firm, announced a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to collaborate on comprehensive air quality monitoring solutions for government agencies, communities, and businesses seeking integrated air quality management services.
• In March 2023, bioMérieux, global biotechnology company, announced partnership with Interscience, a laboratory equipment company to develop the 3P STATION, an automated system adapted to pharmaceutical players’ specific needs. This automated system that is designed to specifically meet the needs of the pharmaceutical industry for their environmental monitoring improves, optimizes and guarantees robust reading performances

Figure 2. Global Industrial Microbiology Market Share (%), By Product Type, 2023

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Top Companies in the Global Industrial Microbiology Market

• Merck KgaA
• Becton, Dickinson and Company
• Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.
• Agilent Technologies, Inc.
• Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc.
• Asiagel Corporation
• Eppendorf AG
• BioMérieux SA
• Danaher Corporation
• Qiagen N.V.
• Sartorius AG
• 3M

Definition: Industrial microbiology is the applied use of microorganisms for industrial processes, industrial production, and manufacturing. There are various types of industrial microbiology products and processes that utilize microorganisms. One of the major areas is the production of organic acids like lactic acid, citric acid, and acetic acid. These acids are produced through fermentation by using specific microbial strains like lactobacillus, aspergillus niger respectively. Organic acids find applications as food acidulants and preservatives. Similarly, industrial enzymes like protease, amylase, cellulose, and others  produced via microbial fermentation are widely used in industries like detergents, food processing, and biofuel production. Another important class of industrial microbiology products are antibiotics. Several commercially important antibiotics like penicillin, erythromycin, vancomycin are produces at industrial scales by fermentation.