North America Freeze Drying Market

Market Overview

The North America freeze drying market is expected to reach USD 2.21 billion by 2030, with a CAGR of 6.85%.

Lyophilization, also known as freeze drying, removes moisture from a raw, frozen product by using a vacuum system and a process known as sublimation.

Raw frozen food is sectioned into pieces of the proper size and then distributed evenly across trays before being stacked and placed in freezers. The product, having been sized, then freezes at an even colder temperature, achieving the ideal stage in which the object's initial shape can be preserved while still retaining its integrity.

Then, the trays are loaded into a freezer-drying chamber with a refrigeration unit and a door that closes securely. A process known as sublimation removes ice from the product by the vacuum system of the chamber, and the ice is converted straight to a vapour without passing through the liquid state. Because the water is removed from the product while frozen, the cell structure is preserved, and the finished product exhibits a close similarity to its new version. As a result, the piece maintains its identity.

Market Dynamics

Drivers

• Increasing preference for freeze-dried food and the growing middle-class population in Mexico & United States.

The growing middle-class population and international players' products in Mexico are driving up demand for freeze-dried foods. Furthermore, consumers in the country opt for freeze-dried products because they are an easy meal choice, convenient, and have a long shelf life. Freeze-dried yoghurt, for example, is a tasty on-the-go snack consumed during lunches and car trips, making it a popular product in the country.

Because of their hectic lifestyles, consumers increasingly demand freeze-dried foods such as gluten-free mozzarella cheese, which are used to make meal preparation easier. Furthermore, with many manufacturers in the country expanding their product portfolio by launching freeze-dried foods, the market in the region is expected to grow rapidly.

Restraints

• Alternative drying techniques are increasingly being used in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.

Lyophilization is costly with high operational costs, high energy consumption, high capital investment, and a long processing time. Freeze drying systems are capital-intensive, so companies dealing in food, pharmaceutical, and biotechnology focus on alternative drying technologies to reduce overall product costs without sacrificing quality.

The primary alternative to freeze drying has been identified as spray drying. It is a one-step process for drying substances with greater scalability and lower equipment, facility, and utility costs. Furthermore, compared to Lyophilization, the drying cycle time for spray drying is significantly shorter, lowering operational costs for manufacturers. Other lyophilization methods include precipitation, vacuum-microwave dehydration, vacuum foam drying, glycerol use, and atmospheric freeze drying. The emergence of such low-cost alternatives is harming market growth. On the other hand, Lyophilization is the only way to deliver stable, biologically active products with a long shelf life.

Regional Analysis

The North America Freeze drying Market is segmented into The U.S., Canada & Mexico based on country.

North America is expected to dominate the global freeze drying market during the forecast period. The rise could be attributed to the increased consumption of processed and convenience foods. The increasing busy lifestyle of residents, combined with the region's well-established B2B and B2C sales channels, has increased demand for this processed food.

North America has the world's largest pharmaceutical market and is a major pharmaceutical exporter. When pharmaceutical products are exposed to water and air, they degrade. Pharmaceutical manufacturers and chemists can extend the shelf life of these products by freeze drying them and storing them in oxygen and water-free container. This concern for preserving pharmaceutical products across the market drives regional market growth.

Segmental Analysis

The market is segmented into Tray-style Freeze Dryer, Manifold Freeze Dryer, and Shell Freeze Dryer based on freezer type.

The tray freeze-dryers market is expected to dominate the segment. Tray freeze-dryers are more sophisticated than their counterparts, and they are used to dry a wide range of materials in both the pharmaceutical and food and beverage industries. The tray freeze-dryer freezes the product while performing unbound water removal and bound freeze drying, resulting in the driest possible end-products in long-term storage. Furthermore, these dryers allow operators to dry products in bulk, making them popular for long-term storage of pharmaceutical products such as vaccines.

The market is divided into Food and Beverage, Pharmaceutical, Biotechnology and Others, based on end-user.

The food & beverage segment is expected to augment the market growth. There are three significant reasons which are contributing to this cause.

• Individuals' hectic work schedules prompt them to opt for refrigerated, frozen, and canned food, increasing the demand for freeze drying equipment.
• The growing number of female workers and nuclear families also drives the North America Freeze drying market. Working women have less time to cook, which increases the demand for convenience foods such as canned and frozen foods.
• One of the primary benefits of freeze drying is extending the shelf life of nutritious food ingredients while also making food products versatile, accessible, and convenient. The demand for shelf-stable food drives the demand for these freeze drying processes in the food and beverage industry.
• Highest Growth Expected in Pharmaceuticals Segment

In the pharmaceutical industry, freeze drying is widely used to improve labile drugs' stability and long-term storage stability, particularly protein drugs. Approximately half of the FDA and EMA-approved biopharmaceutical products are freeze-dried, indicating the importance of the freeze drying process in pharmaceuticals compared to other processes, despite the high cost and lengthy processing time.

Increasing life expectancy, rising R&D investments, surging foreign investment in developing markets, and rising customer spending has aided the pharmaceutical industry's growth. And as the prevalence of chronic diseases and obesity rises at an alarming rate, so makes the demand for pharmaceutical products across the board.

Recent Developments

• Azbil Corporation announced on May 27, 2022, that its digital mass flow controller model F4Q had won the prestigious iF Design Award 2022 in the product discipline for outstanding design.
• December 2021, ATS Automation Tooling Systems Inc. ("ATS" or the "Company"), a market-leading provider of automation solutions, announced the successful completion of its acquisition of SP Industries, Inc. ("SP"), a designer and manufacturer of high-quality biopharma processing equipment, life sciences equipment, and lab apparatus products.