Braskem, Brazil’s leading petrochemical producer, has started up a US$500 million factory to make polyethylene from sugarcane-based ethanol, and has announced plans for a second, US$100 million plant where it will manufacture polypropylene, another thermoplastic, from sugarcane ethanol by 2013. Currently, Braskem makes two types of so-called green polyethylene at a rate of 200,000 tons a year at its plant in the town of Triunfo, in southern Rio Grande do Sul state. One, a linear-low-density (LLDPE) variety, is used in flex-wrap and shrink wrap; the other, a high-density (HD) material, is used in the blow-molding of yogurt containers and plastic bottles. Meanwhile, green polypropylene, the new cane-ethanol-based material Braskem expects to sell by 2013... [Log in to read more]