Continuing its momentum from 2010, the separations market experienced another year of solid growth. The separations market, which accounts for 17% of the total analytical and life sciences instrumentation industry, increased 8.9% to $7.3 billion in 2011. Like 2010, sales in 2011 were driven by strong demand for initial systems, which posted double-digit sales growth. Stimulus funding from major geographies played a significant role in the growth. Demand from emerging markets such as China, India and other Pacific Rim countries also buoyed the market during the year. Additionally, overall revenues were positively influenced by currency effects.

Although demand for separations instrumentation for the last two years has been quite robust, IBO has moderated its outlook for the separations market for this year. The sector is forecast to experience modest growth in 2012, increasing 4.8% to $7.6 billion. Stimulus funding and the effects of currency are not expected to be as significant to the sector’s growth as they were last year.

Agilent and Waters are the segment leaders. Thermo Fisher Scientific recently increased its share of the market with several chromatography acquisitions, including Dionex (see IBO 12/15/11).

Separation techniques are used in just about every industrial laboratory for analytical and purification applications. The largest industrial sectors are involved in life science–related applications. Demand from emerging life science areas, such as diagnostics, and food testing are becoming increasingly significant. Government and the chemical industry are also important end-markets, fueled by demand from petrochemical labs, biofuel research initiatives and environmental regulations.

Overall, separations instrumentation sales are expected to increase in all geographic segments this year. Demand in China and India is forecast to continue to expand, particularly in the pharmaceutical, biotech and CRO sectors. Sales in neighboring countries also should expand rapidly. Growth in Japan is expected to be strong as the country recovers from last year’s earthquake and continues to rebuild its infrastructure.

The HPLC market accounted for the largest segment of the total separations market in 2011. HPLC sales are forecast to increase 4.9% this year. Demand for UHPLC systems and innovative column technologies is expected to fuel growth. Gas chromatography (GC) accounted for about a quarter of the separations market in 2011. The GC market is expected to increase 4.4% in 2012, driven by continued expansion in Asia Pacific.

Ion chromatography (IC) is heavily focused on industrial and environmental markets. This market is forecast to grow modestly at 4.6% in 2012, driven by strong growth in Japan and China. The low-pressure LC (LPLC) market accounted for about 5% of the overall separations market in 2011 and is forecast to increase 4.2% in 2012, driven by solid growth of bulk media and chemical sales, which account for a significant share of this market’s revenues.

Capillary electrophoresis (CE) (excluding sequencers), flash chromatography and other separation techniques combine to make up about 6% of the total separations market. Demand for CE is forecast to increase nearly 6%, driven by sales growth for microfluidic-based CE systems.

Flash chromatography is forecast to be the fastest-growing separations segment, with sales increasing 7.4% in 2012. Other techniques include thin layer chromatography (TLC) and chemical sensors. Together, these technologies are expected to grow modestly at 4.3% in 2012.

 Bar Graph: 2010–2013 Total Separations Instrumentation Market

              2010     2011     2012      2013

 $ Millions  6,703    7,298    7,648     8,022

 Separations Instrumentation 2011–2012

                      2011 Market Share          2012 Growth Rate

 HPLC                     58.9%                       4.9%

 GC                       23.4%                       4.4%

 IC                        6.3%                       4.6%

 LPLC                      5.3%                       4.2%

 CE                        3.2%                       5.9%

 Flash Chromatography      1.7%                       7.4%

 Other                     1.1%                       4.3%

 Total                   100.0%                       4.8%

 Pie Chart: 2011 Separations Suppliers’ Market Shares

 Agilent          20%

 Waters           16%

 Thermo           11%

 Shimadzu          8%

 Sigma-Aldrich     6%

 Other            39%

 Separations Instrumentation Market Leaders

 HPLC                         Waters, Agilent

 GC                           Agilent, Shimadzu

 LPLC                         GE, Bio-Rad Laboratories

 IC                           Thermo Fisher Scientific, Metrohm

 CE                           Agilent, Danaher

 Flash Chromatography         Teledyne Technologies, Biotage

 TLC                          Camag, Agilent

 Chemical Sensors             Alpha MOS, Smiths Detection

 Pie Chart: 2011 Separations Market by Product Type

 Aftermarket       49%

 Initial Systems   38%

 Service           13%