Zeon: Expansion of DCPD production capacities

Japanese chemical group Zeon plans to expand its production capacities for dicyclopentadiene (DCPD).

According to a press release, construction of a new plant at the group’s Mizushima site in Kurashiki on Japan’s main island of Honshū is scheduled to begin in the second half of the current fiscal year. Completion of the plant is currently planned for September 2028. No information has yet been provided on the investment associated with construction of the new DCPD plant.

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Dicyclopentadiene (DCPD) is obtained from the so-called C5 fraction during naphtha steam cracking. Zeon primarily requires DCPD as a raw material for the production of cycloolefin copolymers (COC/COP) and for compounding in the RIM process (reaction injection molding). The latest announcement does not provide precise details on the planned new production capacities. However, the new plant is expected to increase Zeon’s total DCPD production capacities by around 20%.

With the new DCPD capacities, Zeon is responding in particular to the continued rise in demand for COC/COP. Only recently, the company also announced plans to build a new COC/COP plant at its Tokuyama site in Shunan in the southwest of Honshū in this context (see plasticker news of 3 March 2026).

Tokyo-based Zeon is one of the world’s leading suppliers of synthetic rubbers and specialty polymers. The group operates numerous sites and subsidiaries in Japan and is also present in China, Taiwan, South Korea, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, India, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, the United States, Mexico and Brazil. In fiscal year 2025/2026, Zeon generated total sales of JPY 412 bn (EUR 2.231 bn), with operating profit of JPY 36.4 bn (EUR 197 mn) and net profit of JPY 36.2 bn (EUR 196 mn).

More information: www.zeon.co.jp

Zeon Corporation, Japan + Zeon Europe GmbH, Düsseldorf