Daicel Corporation's High Performance Polymers (HPPs) Strategic Business Unit (formerly Polyplastics Co., Ltd.) has expanded its sustainable engineering plastics portfolio by introducing four new DURACON® polyoxymethylene (POM) grades containing 30% post-consumer recycled (PCR) material. The latest product lineup reflects the company's commitment to promoting circular economy practices while maintaining the high-performance standards required across industrial applications.
The newly developed PCR-based DURACON® POM grades include standard, low volatile organic compound (VOC), sliding, and tough variants, enabling customers to select materials that best suit their specific application requirements. Daicel officially showcased these innovative products during CHINAPLAS 2026, held in Shanghai in April, highlighting its continued focus on sustainable material innovation.
Among the new offerings, the standard PCR-POM grade provides a melt flow rate of 9, making it suitable for general molding applications. The low VOC grade has been developed to satisfy stringent automotive OEM requirements for reduced emissions. Meanwhile, the sliding grade delivers enhanced wear and friction performance, making it suitable for moving mechanical components, while the tough grade offers impact resistance and mechanical performance comparable to conventional virgin POM materials.
Daicel has steadily strengthened its recycling initiatives over recent years. In 2023, the company introduced its DURACIRCLE® re-compounding service, which primarily recycled post-industrial plastic scrap collected from customer manufacturing facilities. The new PCR-POM grades represent the next phase of this sustainability strategy by utilizing post-consumer recycled POM, sourced from products that have completed their service life and reprocessed into valuable raw materials.
One of the primary challenges associated with post-consumer recycled materials is maintaining consistent quality despite variations in feedstock. Daicel addressed this issue by applying its extensive expertise in polymer compounding and advanced quality control technologies. According to the company's internal testing, the new materials maintain key mechanical properties at levels comparable to traditional virgin POM grades despite incorporating 30% recycled content.
DURACON® POM has long been recognized for its outstanding mechanical strength, rigidity, dimensional stability, wear resistance, and low-friction characteristics. These properties have made it a preferred engineering plastic for manufacturing precision gears, electrical connectors, automotive components, and other high-precision industrial parts.
Looking ahead, Daicel plans to further expand its PCR-POM product portfolio to serve a broader range of industries and applications. By increasing the availability of recycled engineering plastics without compromising product performance, the company aims to support customers in achieving their sustainability goals while accelerating the adoption of circular material solutions across global manufacturing sectors.
Impact on Products and Chemical Commodity Prices
Daicel's launch of 30% PCR-based DURACON® POM is expected to increase demand for recycled engineering plastics while gradually reducing dependence on virgin polyoxymethylene resin in select applications. As adoption expands across automotive, electronics, and industrial manufacturing, recycled POM could capture a larger share of the engineering plastics market. For chemical commodities tracked by ChemAnalyst, the immediate price impact on POM is likely to remain limited because recycled grades will initially complement rather than replace virgin materials. Over the medium to long term, wider PCR adoption could moderate virgin POM demand growth, improve recycling feedstock utilization, and encourage greater investment in circular polymer supply chains.
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