Brazilian petrochemical company Braskem has negotiated contracts for 60% of its sugarcane ethanol-based polyethylene (PE) production and estimates by year-end it will have 70% negotiated, Braskem CEO Bernardo Gradin told journalists at a press conference in São Paulo. “The premium of the ‘green’ PE will be even higher than first expected,” Gradin said, referring to the price of the resin made from 100% renewable sources compared to the naphtha-based product.
Recently, Braskem partnered with US company Johnson & Johnson to develop packaging for the latter’s Sundown sunblock line in Brazil using the “Green PE.” Braskem previously announced partnerships with Toyota Tsusho, the trading arm of Japanese automobile manufacturer Toyota, Japanese cosmetics company Shiseido and Brazilian plastic manufacturing group Acinplas.
The plant to produce 200,000t/y of the “green” PE is currently under construction at the Triunfo petrochemical pole, in Rio Grande do Sul state. The company expects the plant to start operation at end-2010. In addition, Braskem has secured 70%, or 280Mm3/y, of the necessary ethanol to supply the plant, the CEO said.
Braskem and ETH Bioenergia, the energy unit of Brazilian conglomerate Odebrecht, recently signed an agreement worth 160mn reais (US$93mn) for 150Ml of ethanol over three years.
Filed under: Biofuels, Climate Change, Enviroment, Ethanol, Sugarcane | Tagged: bioplastic, Bioplastics, Braskem, Ethanol, Green Plastics, Plastics
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