Braskem decides to produce green polyethylene at Triunfo

06 Jun '08

4 min read

Braskem is inaugurating a new cycle of investments at the Triunfo Petrochemical Complex starting by consolidating the sector in the south through an investment of more than R$ 1.0 billion scheduled over the next 3 years and the decision to produce green polyethylene in Rio Grande do Sul. This investment program is in line with the company's growth with the creation of value strategy that aims at making Braskem one of the ten largest companies in the sector in the world.

Ever since it announced the acquisition in March 2007, Braskem has invested nearly R$ 300 million in the state, especially for the ETBE project, an automotive bioadditive produced from ethanol, and the modernization initiatives and technological updating made during the recent scheduled maintenance period at Copesul.

"Approval of the investment agreement with Petrobras, which allocated its shareholder participation in Copesul, Ipiranga Petroquímica, Ipiranga Química and Petroquímica Paulínia, will permit accelerating our growth programs in Rio Grande do Sul", says José Carlos Grubisich, president of Braskem.

The alignment of interests with the government of Rio Grande do Sul in the sense of encouraging competitiveness in the state's petrochemical and plastic production chain was an important factor that helped determine Braskem's investment plan.

"Our decision is recognition of the advances achieved to make the environment more favorable for new investments starting withthe RS Competitivo revitalization program and the state government's commitment to fiscal and financial discipline. It also valorizes the state's return to a period of growth, its vocation as an innovation and technological project center as well as the pool of available talents in the region," adds Grubisich.

The investments announced for Rio Grande do Sul are part of Braskem's growth strategy. The company has been investing to expand all its industrial units in Alagoas and Bahia as well, and has just inaugurated a new polypropylene plant in Paulínia, in the state of São Paulo, with capacity to produce 350 thousand tons per year.

The highlight of this investment commitment has been the decision to install the green polyethylene project in Triunfo, with estimated investments of between R$ 400 and R$ 500 million. This will be the first commercial scale operation in the world to produce green polyethylene from 100% renewable raw material.

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