Braskem Company

Ethanol, categorized as a supercommodity, can be converted to olefins such as ethylene for the production of the commodity plastic polyethylene, which provides a direct interface between the biorefinery and the conversion infrastructure of the petrochemical industry. The Braskem company has established the product line for biopolyethylene production. 

Polypropylene (PP) can also be produced from sugarcane and other organic plant-based materials. Braskem Company planned to produce polypropylene from sugarcane in 2013 (Braskem Green Products 2013). 

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Braskem, a Brazilian company, began producing biobased polyethylene on a commercial scale in 2010 [7]. The starting material is sugar cane. Conventional fermentation methods are used to produce ethanol from sugar. Ethanol is then dehydrated to ethylene. This ethylene can then be used to produce polyethylene, exactly as is done with ethylene from petrochemical sources. The resulting polyethylene is identical in performance to conventional polyethylene, and of course is not biodegradable. 

One example for a successful effort to utilize sucrose as feedstock for the manufacture of bulk organic chemicals is the production of green ethylene from sugar via bio-ethanol. In Brazil, the company Braskem has announced the first certified linear polyethylene in the world made from 100% renewable raw material and planned its production on a 200,000 mto scale for 2010. In a joint venture between SantelisaVale/Crystalsev and Dow Chemical the production of 350,000 mto of polyethylene is planned to start in 2011. ... 

Braskem is a large petrochemical company in Brazil and it initiated the green polyethylene project on April 22, 2009, with an investment of R 500 million. 

Another Brazilian company, Braskem, has already started with the construction of a 200.000 tons plant in Triunfo, Rio Grande do Sul, which is also supposed to start up in 2011 [11], The current global bioethanol production volume of more than 30 million tons, however, would allow us to cover only 30% of today s global PE production. 

Biobased polyethylene is currently available from Braskem and DOW Chemical Company. Biobased polyethylene can be made from sugarcane or other agricultural materials. 

Commercial plans for a biobased ethylene source to manufacture polyethylene have been published by Dow Chemical Company for a process based in Brazil. In a report by Kevin Bullis published by MIT Technology Review on July 25, 2011, plans for the construction of a 240-million-liter ethanol plant using sugarcane as feedstock has been proposed by Dow as a joint venture with Mitsui. This ethanol-based ethylene would be used to manufacture 350,000 metric tons of polyethylene. This would be in addition to a 200,000-ton sugarcane-to-polyethylene plant operated by Brazil-based Braskem. However, for this ethanol-based ethylene and polyethylene facility to be successful, the ethylene costs must be competitive with ethylene produced from naphtha, which will mostly likely remain the high-cost ethylene source. 

Polyethylene In 2010, Brazilian Braskem was the first company to put a biobased polyethylene plant into operation in Triunfo with a capacity of 200000 tons per year [73]. The same company was first considering partnering with Dow Chemical for polyethylene resins from sugarcane-based ethanol. 

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