Braskem firms up plan for $100m Brazilian green plastics factory
The world’s first producer of green plastic produced from 100 per cent sugar cane derivatives has confirmed plans for a $100m (£62m) expansion in Brazil, as it steps up its efforts curb environmental footprint.
Felipette Eder, green ethylene coordinator for petrochemical company Braskem, told reporters during a site visit yesterday that it would fund a new plant to produce 30,000 tonnes of polypropylene, dubbed Green PP, from ethanol each year.
The new plant will be built at Braskem’s 60 kilometre square site in Rio Grande de Sul, near Porto Alegre, southern Brazil and is expected to be completed in 2013.
It will sit alongside Braskem’s existing facility, which produces 200 tonnes per year of polyethylene (green PE), which is also made using ethanol.
Eder said it had already lined up a number of high profile customers for Green PP, including Toyota, which already buys its green polyethylene for use in auto manufacturing. Other customers for green PE include Danone and Tetrapak, which use green plastic to reduce the environmental impact of their packaging.
Customers pay a premium of about 20 per cent compared to plastic made with traditional fossil fuels. However, Braskem claims its product reduces the carbon impact of plastic by 2.3 kilo tons of CO2 per ton, compared to a plastic produced using gas or naphtha.
“The prinipal market is mainly Europe: Danone and other clients such as Toyota and Tetra pak,” explained Eder. “The product is used for foods and cosmetics, but mainly for packaging.”
Antonio Milani, Braskem director of information technology, also revealed that the company was in talks to set targets to reduce its carbon emissions, as part of a goal to become the world leader in sustainable chemistry by 2020.
The company is currently in negotiations with its technology provider SAP to upgrade its environmental management software to use SAP’s cloud-based Carbon Impact Software.
It is also considering using SAP EC to measure key impacts, including water consumption, effluent generation, and energy generation and consumption.
“We are a very large water and energy consumer so it is really important for us to work in this area to have as low as impact as possible,” said Milani. “Plastic energy consumption is really high and we have to work around that.”
Ethanol currently makes up three per cent of Braskom’s energy mix, with natural gas accounting for 13 per cent and naphtha making up the remaining 84 per cent.
Milani said the company was planning to increase its use of natural gas in its energy mix over the coming years.
Felipette Eder, green ethylene coordinator for petrochemical company Braskem, told reporters during a site visit yesterday that it would fund a new plant to produce 30,000 tonnes of polypropylene, dubbed Green PP, from ethanol each year.
The new plant will be built at Braskem’s 60 kilometre square site in Rio Grande de Sul, near Porto Alegre, southern Brazil and is expected to be completed in 2013.
It will sit alongside Braskem’s existing facility, which produces 200 tonnes per year of polyethylene (green PE), which is also made using ethanol.
Eder said it had already lined up a number of high profile customers for Green PP, including Toyota, which already buys its green polyethylene for use in auto manufacturing. Other customers for green PE include Danone and Tetrapak, which use green plastic to reduce the environmental impact of their packaging.
Customers pay a premium of about 20 per cent compared to plastic made with traditional fossil fuels. However, Braskem claims its product reduces the carbon impact of plastic by 2.3 kilo tons of CO2 per ton, compared to a plastic produced using gas or naphtha.
“The prinipal market is mainly Europe: Danone and other clients such as Toyota and Tetra pak,” explained Eder. “The product is used for foods and cosmetics, but mainly for packaging.”
Antonio Milani, Braskem director of information technology, also revealed that the company was in talks to set targets to reduce its carbon emissions, as part of a goal to become the world leader in sustainable chemistry by 2020.
The company is currently in negotiations with its technology provider SAP to upgrade its environmental management software to use SAP’s cloud-based Carbon Impact Software.
It is also considering using SAP EC to measure key impacts, including water consumption, effluent generation, and energy generation and consumption.
“We are a very large water and energy consumer so it is really important for us to work in this area to have as low as impact as possible,” said Milani. “Plastic energy consumption is really high and we have to work around that.”
Ethanol currently makes up three per cent of Braskom’s energy mix, with natural gas accounting for 13 per cent and naphtha making up the remaining 84 per cent.
Milani said the company was planning to increase its use of natural gas in its energy mix over the coming years.
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