Braskem has announced the launch of a new line of ‘green’ low-density polyethylene (LDPE), which will complement its existing well-known Green Plastics renewable products portfolio.
The Brazil-based company – the world’s largest producer of biopolymers and the leading thermoplastic resin producer in the Americas – says annual production of the new resin will amount to approximately 30kt and the product will be available to the market from January 2014.
“We believe low-density green polyethylene will meet the growing demand for materials made from renewable resources by enabling other applications in addition to the ones already available through our current portfolio of Green Plastic,” says Luciano Guidolin, vice-president of Braskem’s Polyolefins and Renewables unit.
“With this production capacity, we will be ready to meet a portion of the global demand for this resin.”
In order to ensure the production feasibility of the new green LDPE line, Braskem had to invest in interconnecting plants and certain pieces of equipment, to facilitate the production of green LDPE from renewable raw materials.
LDPE is used mainly in plastic packaging and films.
Braskem has been producing high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) since September 2010 using sugarcane ethanol renewable feedstock.
