Gasoline additives are chemical compounds which enhances the quality and efficiency of gasoline fuel used in automobile engines and other equipment. Rapid urbanization and strict regulations imposed by nations worldwide on reducing sulfur content in fuels and improving the fuel-efficiency, has led to the growth in demand for gasoline additives Equipment and engine manufacturers are now focused towards building more efficient and powerful engines with longer life and low maintenance. This has led to an increase in use of gasoline additives as they play a vital role in increasing efficiency of fuel, reducing engine wear, etc.

Market Outlook

Consumer’s inclination towards more efficient vehicles coupled with regulatory policies imposed by various governments in order to reduce harmful fuel emissions is expected to fuel the demand for gasoline additives. For instance, the Amendments in the U.S. Clean Air Act, which was created by Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1963, restricted the use of lead in fuels owing to the harmful lead pollution caused in air due to the fuel emissions. The challenge for the automobile industry is to align with these requirements without any depreciation in efficiency and power of the vehicles.
Regionally, Europe is expected to show significant growth during the forecast period, owing to rising demand for high performance vehicles with longer maintenance intervals. According to International Council on Clean Transportation Europe (ICCT), new car registrations in European Union reached 15.2 million in 2017, which is the most number of new car registrations since 2007.
Lead was initially used in gasoline-based engines to enhance the performance of vehicles by increasing the octane number, however, most of the countries are slowly phasing out the use of lead in fuels due to its toxic properties. Today, 90% of the total gasoline produced worldwide are unleaded and thus, market players are now focusing on non-toxic anti-knocking additives such as oxygenates and aromatics which provide higher octane rating by inducing complete fuel combustion. For instance, according to a report by the U.S. Energy Information Administration published in 2018, the U.S. is one of the leading exporters of Methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE), which is one such kind of fuel oxygenate. According to the same source, Mexico alone contributed to 66% of the total U.S. MTBE exports in 2017.
Companies in the gasoline additive industry are focusing on development of chemical additives to cater to demands of high quality fuels in the automobile industry. For instance, in December 2019, Amsoil, a U.S.-based corporation involved in formulating fuel additives, synthetic lubricants and filters, launched two new products at the Performance Racing industry trade show (PRI). The first product is a performance enhancing additive which avoids accumulation of harmful deposits in igniter and valve seat whereas the second product is a lubricating additive which prevents corrosion caused in upper cylinder region due to ethanol which is present in most of the gasoline fuel variants.
The key challenge for players in this industry is to cope up with the expensive process of engine testing and trials for vehicle demonstration during the development of new products. A significant number of lab tests are required to develop additives for desired performance needs within the regulatory norms regarding health and safety.

Key Players

Major companies operating in global gasoline additives market are Afton Chemical Corporation, The Lubrizol Corporation, Chemtura Corporation, The Dow Chemical Company, AkzoNobel N.V., Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas), Huntsman Corporation, Evonik Industries AG, Baker Hughes Incorporated, BASF SE, and Innospec Inc.

Market Taxonomy

On the basis of product type, the global gasoline additives market is segmented into: