Braskem extends bioplastics range with LLDPE

Brazilian chemicals group Braskem is claiming a second significant breakthrough in the bioplastics sector with development of a bio-based route to produce butene, allowing it to develop a bio-derived LLDPE.

The company has already delivered pilot scale quantities of HDPE into the market using bio-ethylene derived from sugar cane. It is on course to begin commercial production of bio-HDPE with a 200,000tpa plant in Brazil in 2010.

Development of a bio-butene will enable Braskem to extend its bio-derived resin slate to include linear PE grades, according to Antonio Morschbacker, head of biopolymers technology at the company. It will also open the door to applications in flexible film packaging. LLDPE requires ethylene and butane monomers.

The new bio-derived LLDPE resin, which was developed at the Braskem Technology and Innovation Centre in Brazil, has been certified by international testing house Beta Analytic as produced from 100% renewable resources. Braskem has filed process patent applications.

The company said it is currently supplying laboratory scale volumes of the LLDPE resin to key customers to enable them to assess performance and environmental benefits.

Braskem has the advantage over its rivals in the bioplastics sector of Brazil’s well established sugar cane ethanol industry. The country is the world’s largest producer of bioethanol, turning out some 17m m3 each year from 6m hectares of cultivated sugar cane.

Braskem ceo Jose Carlos Grubisich told EPN magazine in a recent interview he believed Braskem is three years ahead of its rivals on the route to commercial bio-derived plastics.

He said this would have a much bigger impact on the plastics market than the current generation of bioplastics, such as thermoplastic starch blends and PLA.

Grubisich added: “The main advantage is that we offer a green product that can be used by customers in the same production facilities and in their existing products. PLA and PHA did not get this response because customers had to change.

“They do not go for the same applications and they do not have the same properties. And of course they are more expensive.”

Braskem claimed that its route to bio-HDPE had the potential to cost less than current petrochemical technology. However, pricing will initially be determined by the value in the market rather than cost to manufacture.

The company has made no comment on the cost of its bio-butene or LLDPE products.