Brazil's Braskem Expands Green Ethylene Capacity at Triunfo Plant

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Braskem (Sao Paulo, Brazil) has kicked off the expansion of its green ethylene unit at its Triunfo plant in Rio Grande do Sul state, southern Brazil. The plant unit started operations in 2010 and it was the first in the world to produce polymers from a renewable source, green ethylene from ethanol produced from sugarcane.

The US$61 million expansion will increase the plant's current 450 million-pound-per-year capacity to 573 million pounds per year. The project is part of Braskem's plan to reduce its carbon footprint by 15% by 2030 and become a carbon-neutral company by 2050.

Intertechne Consultores (Curitiba, Brazil) performed the engineering for the project and Sao Paulo-based engineering and construction company Tenenge, will be responsible for the construction, testing and pre-commissioning. Tenenge constructed the original plant 12 years ago and has in-house expertise to implement the expansion.

The expansion project will require a workforce of 600 at its peak and will prevent the emission of 185,000 metric tons per year of carbon dioxide, according to Braskem.

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The expansion project started its final implementation together with a maintenance turnaround that kicked off on January 9. The unit will be offline for more than 30 days and is expected to resume operations mid-February. Subscribers can click here for the project report.

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