Dow, Crystalev Move Forward with Joint Venture to Produce "Green" Polyethylene

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Dow's Brazilian subsidiary, Dow Quimica S.A. (Sao Paulo, Brazil), has officially entered into a joint venture with longtime ethanol producer Crystalsev Comercio e Representacao Limitada (Ribeirao Preto, Brazil) to produce "green" polyethylene from a feedstock of sugarcane alcohol. The joint venture will spend the majority of 2008 designing and engineering the plant with site work expected to follow in spring 2009. The exact location for the site has not been determined, but it will definitely be built in Sao Paulo.

Dow's Solution Technology will be implemented to process 350,000 metric tons per year of DOWLEXT linear low-density polyethylene. The plant will produce ethanol from sugarcane and then produce ethylene, which in turn will be processed into polyethylene. Both companies are excited and proud to be involved in such a massive and innovative project. Global warming or not, any reduction in greenhouse gases has to be a positive. Both companies are eager to submit the project for approval as a Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), which was instituted by the United Nations and allows the management of carbon credits from countries considered "emerging markets."

The project makes fiscal sense, as well. With the price of oil hitting $100 a barrel, sugar cane is definitely a cheaper route to take than the traditional production of ethylene from naphtha. The project also falls into Dow's new initiative called "asset light," which promotes the reduction of its investment and equity footprint in plastics that have proven to be counterproductive when considering the market price.

The plant is expected to be up and running by spring 2011.

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