Braskem Produces First Ethanol-Derived Polyethylene

23 June 2007

Brazil’s Braskem has produced its first polyethylene made from sugarcane ethanol. The polymer was certified to contain 100% renewable raw materials.

The project is now in technical and economic specification process and the startup of green polyethylene production on an industrial scale is expected in late 2009. The new unit will have modern technology and competitive scale, and could reach annual production capacity of up to 200,000 tonnes. The location and industrial design of the unit will be determined within the next few months.

Braskem is Latin America’s leading company in the thermoplastic resins segment in Latin America and second largest Brazilian industrial company owned by the private sector. International laboratory Beta Analytic certified the product.

The polymer developed by Braskem—a high-density polyethylene, one of the resins most widely used in flexible packagings—is the result of a research and development project that has already received some US$5 million in investment.

Part of this amount was allocated to implementing a pilot unit for the production of ethane, which is the basis for the production of polyethylene, from renewable feedstock at the Braskem Technology and Innovation Center.