The market for separations techniques was hit hard in 2009 due to weakness in the industrial segments, including the chemicals industry, and the pharmaceutical industry. The separations market declined 5.7% in 2009 and accounted for $6.2 billion in sales. While the market is not expected to make a full recovery just yet, it is estimated to post positive growth of 3.8% this year. Flat to modest growth is expected in the first half of the year, particularly as stimulus funding begins to be realized. The second half of 2010 is also expected to be stronger than last year, as industrial markets pull out of the capital-spending lull.

Separation techniques are used for analytical and purification applications that span the entire industrial marketplace. Life science–related applications account for the largest portion of the market, despite weakness in the pharmaceutical and biotech sectors in 2009. Demand from government and academia had a relatively strong year, while the majority of the industrial segments were down in 2009. For 2010, government and the pharmaceutical industries are expected to lead overall growth in the separations sector.

North America and Europe were impacted the most last year as industries adjusted corporate spending to cope with the lackluster economy. Japan was also affected by the world economic slowdown, but favorable currency translations inflated the market somewhat. Albeit not as spectacular as in previous years, growth in China and the Pacific Rim regions continued its expansion, fueled by strong support from government and academia. Sales in Asia’s private sector continued to expand as well, particularly as pharmaceutical and chemical companies establish research centers in the region.

The HPLC market accounted for the largest segment of the total separations market in 2009, representing more than half of the total demand. The shortage of acetonitrile has caused users to re-evaluate methods. Sales of UHPLC systems have continued to increase and are expected to play a strong role in the overall growth of the market this year.

Among separations techniques, the GC market struggled the most last year. Nevertheless, GC remained the second largest separations technique, accounting for about a quarter of separations market sales in 2009. Overall, the GC market is expected to rebound and post solid growth of 4.3% in 2010, fueled by expansion in Asia and stronger demand in the US and Europe.

Ion Chromatography (IC) accounted for about 6% of the separations market last year. IC is heavily focused on industrial and environmental markets. It was the only segment that offered positive growth for 2009. IC is forecast to be one of the fastest-growing segments in 2010, driven by expansion in Asia.

Low-Pressure (LP) LC, which is mostly used in the study of biomolecules, such as proteins and monoclonal antibodies in their natural state, accounted for about 5.6% of the market in 2009. Led by GE Healthcare and Bio-Rad Laboratories, the LPLC market is mainly an aftermarket business, with bulk media and chemicals accounting for a significant share of sales.

The demand for Capillary Electrophoresis (CE) declined last year by approximately 5%. Overall, growth for CE is expected to be strong in 2010 and is forecast to grow 7.5%. Demand for microfluidic-based CE systems, or lab-on-a-chip systems, is expected to drive growth, especially for life science research applications.

Other techniques represent a small portion of the separations market. Flash chromatography, which accounted for 1.5% of the market in 2009, is expected to grow 4.2%. “Other“ techniques, consisting of Thin-Layer Chromatography (TLC), Continuous Flow Analysis (CFA) and chemical sensors, collectively accounted for only 2.2% of the market last year and are expected to grow modestly at 3.6% in 2010.

Chart: 2008–2011 Total Separations Instrumentation Market

2008 2009 2010 2011

Liquid Phase 6591 6215 6454 6762

Chart: 2009 Separations Market by Product Type

Initial Systems 2526

Aftermarket 2814

Service 875

Chart: 2009 Separations Suppliers Market Shares

Agilent 20%

Waters 17%

Shimadzu 7%

Sigma Aldrich 6%

Dionex 5%

Other 45%

Separations Instrumentation 2009–2010

Market Share Growth Rate

HPLC 56.9% 3.2%

GC 24.6% 4.3%

IC 6.2% 6.2%

LPLC 5.6% 4.3%

CE 3.0% 7.5%

Flash 1.5% 4.2%

Other 2.2% 3.6%

Total 100.0% 3.8%

Separations Instrumentation Market Leaders

HPLC Waters, Agilent

GC Agilent, Shimadzu

LPLC GE Healthcare, Bio-Rad Laboratories

IC Dionex, Metrohm

CE Agilent, Beckman Coulter

Flash Teledyne ISCO, Biotage

TLC Camag, Varian

Chemical Sensors Smiths Detection, Alpha MOS

CFA Thermo Fisher Scientific, Seal Analytical