APLA '10: Braskem predicts $59bn green chems market by 2014

09 November 2010 13:35  [Source: ICIS news]

RIO DE JANEIRO (ICIS)--Braskem’s output from its recently-started “green” polyethylene (PE) plant in Brazil was sold out and the firm expected the renewable chemicals market to become a $59bn (€42bn) business by 2014, a company official said on Tuesday.

“Sugar will be the crude oil of the future,” said Braskem’s vice president Roberto Ramos during a presentation at the 30th Latin American Petrochemical Association (APLA) annual meeting in Rio de Janeiro.

Ramos touted sugarcane, which Brazil uses to make ethanol, as the most effective source of the product.

Braskem in September launched production of ethanol-based polyethylene (PE) at a 200,000 tonne/year plant that uses ethanol-based ethylene as a feedstock.

The company plans to build a second green PE unit with 350,000 tonnes/year of capacity.

Braskem has also announced plans to launch “green” polypropylene (PP) production in 2013, using sugarcane ethanol as a feedstock.

The project would cost $100m and the plant would have a minimum capacity of 30,000 tonnes/year, according to the company.

($1 = €0.72)

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By: William Lemos
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