The project should receive total investment of 800.4 million reais (US$ 380 million) and contemplates the opening of a "green polyethylene" factory, with a capacity for the processing of 204,000 tons a year. According to the BNDES, this is the first alcohol-chemical project financed by the bank.
The new factory is to be installed in the Braskem Basic Input Unit, located in Triunfo Petrochemical Hub, in Rio Grande do Sul, in the Brazilian South, and should start operating in the second half of next year. The research for the project was by the Braskem center for Technology and Innovation, in Triunfo.
A pilot industrial plant was built to develop the process, also allowing for the testing of catalytic converters. In this phase, the company received financing from the BNDES in the scope of Production Innovation, for the total of 14.6 million reais (US$ 7 million).
The Triunfo Technology and Innovation center is turned to the development of products, processes and applications. It includes 150 researchers and technicians, eleven laboratories and eight pilot plants for development, improvement and testing of new products, processes and applications.
Braskem is controlled by Odebrecht Group. Ethanol polyethylene, despite not being made from a fossil fuel, has the same characteristics associated with the petrochemical polymer. This means that its use in the transformation industry has occurred without the need for change of machinery or applications.
Anba