As a biodegradable material, the polycaprolactone (PCL) industry is developing well

Polycaprolactone (PCL), also known as polyε-caprolactone, has the chemical formula (C6H10O2)n and is an organic polymer. Polycaprolactone appears as a white solid powder, easily soluble in organic solvents, but insoluble in water. Polycaprolactone has low melting point, biodegradability and biocompatibility, and is widely used in degradable plastics, medicine and health, plastic materials, nanofiber spinning, plasticizers and other fields.

According to the “2022-2027 China Polycaprolactone (PCL) Industry Application Market Demand and Development Opportunities Research Report>> shows that polycaprolactone is produced by ring-opening polymerization using ε-caprolactone as a catalyst and dihydroxy or trihydroxy as an initiator. Commonly used initiating systems for polycaprolactone include rare earth compound initiating systems, active hydrogen initiating systems, organometallic compound initiating systems, enzyme catalyzed initiating systems, etc. Rare earth initiators have living polymerization characteristics and strong directional polymerization effects, and can generate polycaprolactone with larger molecular weight. They are an initiator with excellent ring-opening polymerization effects. However, because rare earth initiators are easy to hydrolyze and are difficult to store, they have not been widely used in the preparation of polycaprolactone.

ε-Caprolactone is the main raw material for the production of polycaprolactone and is a non-toxic organic chemical intermediate. The ε-caprolactone industry has high technical barriers. The German chemical giant BASF has long held a monopoly on the global ε-caprolactone market. my country does not yet have the large-scale production capacity of ε-caprolactone above 10,000 tons, and its demand is highly dependent on imports. However, in recent years, some manufacturing companies in my country have focused on overcoming the polymerization inhibition and oligomer depolymerization technologies of ε-caprolactone, and have achieved positive results in technological innovation. At present, Hunan Juren Chemical New Materials has realized the industrial production of ε-caprolactone, which will provide driving force for the development of my country’s polycaprolactone industry.

Degradable plastics are the largest demand side for polycaprolactone, accounting for 80.0% of the demand. As one of the development directions of national strategic emerging industries, the market scale of degradable plastics continues to increase. In 2021, my country’s degradable plastic market will reach 19.16 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 21.3%. The “Opinions on Further Strengthening Plastic Pollution Control” jointly issued by the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment will be implemented in 2021. It clearly proposes to ban or restrict the use of non-degradable plastic bags in different fields and actively promote degradable alternative products. With the support of national policies, the industry will gain broad development prospects with polycaprolactone as a degradable material.

Industry analysts said that in recent years, polycaprolactone has been widely used in many fields due to its superior properties. As the concept of green environmental protection continues to deepen, the market demand for polycaprolactone is gradually released, and the development trend of the industry will continue to improve. my country’s polycaprolactone industry started late. The tight supply and demand of raw materials resulted in low polycaprolactone production and was unable to meet market demand. However, driven by technological innovation, my country’s polycaprolactone industry will enter a stage of rapid development.