Norwalk, CT (USA) - According to a new technical market research report, Nanotechnology in Environmental Applications (RNAN039A) from BCC Research, the total market for nanotechnology-based environmental applications in 2005 was $374.9 million. By 2010 this market will have reached more than $6.1 billion, an astonishing average annual growth rate (AAGR) of 75.2%. The market is broken down into four sectors: remediation, protection, maintenance, and enhancement.

The market for remediation is the fastest growing of these four categories. By 2010 it will reach more than $2.3 billion, at an AAGR of more than 100%. Conventional remediation methods have been relatively ineffectual, yielding mixed results; these are likely to give way to more robust, effective, and economical nanotechnologies in the foreseeable future. Several powerful remedial nanotechnologies are very close to implementation. Once the performance and safety of these mechanisms are verified in the field, they will have the potential for initiating a radical spike in demand. This demand may be driven by the shared acknowledgement of the obviously dire condition of many of our waterways and oceans, increasingly unhealthy urban air and reduced atmospheric quality in general, as well as the pervasive infusion and permeation of soils and groundwaters with deadly concoctions of toxic poisons.

Nanotechnology-enabled environmental protection was the largest market category in 2005, worth more than $166 million. By 2010 this market will be worth almost $1.4 billion, an AAGR of 53.0%. The smallest category was environmental enhancement, worth $63 million in 2005, and reaching $724.9 million in 2010, still realizing a substantial AAGR of 62.7%.