Braskem, Americas’ largest producer of thermoplastic resins, estimates that global demand for monoethylene glycol (MEG) – a key ingredient in PET production – will be between 25 to 30 million tonnes per year, with 85% going into PET production.
Meanwhile as companies are more keen on sustainable solutions, some buyers are looking at biobased or green plastics to achieve carbon emission targets. As such the demand for green plastics is expected to manifold in the coming years.
Braskem – that already has a plant in Brazil that produces green plastic from sugar cane, is now planning to venture into sugar based MEG production. The company has collaborated with Denmark’s Haldor Topsoe to experiment the use of sugar to produce MEG.
Already there are few instances where MEG is produced from renewable sources such as ethanol. Braskem is confident that its research could reach better industrial yields to produce MEG from sugar compared to ethanol.
The pilot project to test the use of sugar to produce MEG will be located in Denmark – which is expected to start operations in 2019.
Braskem wants to keep a flexible system in the pilot. Initially cane sugar will be used, but they are also open to using other sources such as beet sugar or even second generation sugar, made from biomass.
Based on the pilot project and financial feasibility, Braskem expects to build a large sugar based MEG plant by 2020 or 2021.
More about green plastics, PET and MEG production at
CMT’s 6th SCAPET on
12-13 June in Cartagena, Colombia.
Contact Grace Oh at
grace@cmtsp.com.sg or call +65 6346 9147 for more information.
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