Braskem is the Americas’ top thermoplastic resin producer. With 36 industrial plants spread across Brazil, United States, Mexico and Germany, the company produces over 16 million tons of thermoplastic resins and other petrochemicals per year. Braskem is the world’s leading biopolymers producer with its 200,000 tons Green PE plant that produces polyethylene from sugarcane-based ethanol.
Basic petrochemicals
Braskem controls the three largest petrochemical complexes in Brazil, located in the cities of Camaçari, Bahia, Mauá, São Paulo and Triunfo, Rio Grande do Sul. Besides these three petrochemical complexes, Braskem also controls a complex in Duque de Caxias, Rio de Janeiro, which is based on gas rather than naphtha. Its basic petrochemical units account for the supply of ethylene and propylene to the company's nearby polymer units. The company also produces other chemical products such as benzene, butadiene, toluene, xylene and isoprene. These compounds are mostly sold to other chemical companies based within the same complexes, such as Innova S.A., Elekeiroz and Dow Chemical.
Although its main feedstock is naphtha, Braskem's green ethylene plant was inaugurated in September, 2010. This green ethylene plant is an important step forward in the strategy of becoming a global leader in sustainable chemicals. The plant is the largest industrial-scale operation in the world producing ethylene made from 100% renewable raw materials, i.e., sugar-cane. The project was conceived and installed in less than two years based on Braskem’s proprietary technology.
Located at the Triunfo petrochemical complex in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, the plant produces 200,000 tons of green ethylene, which will be transformed into an equivalent volume of green plastic.
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Polymers
Braskem is Brazil's main producer of polyethylene, polypropylene and polyvinyl chloride – PVC, with 5.7 million tons of resins capacity production in Brazilian territory. The company is also the leader in the US polypropylene market, with 1.5 million tons of production capacity. In addition, its polypropylene capacity production in Germany is 545,000 tons.
Braskem is also implementing an integrated petrochemical complex in Mexico. The complex will consist of a cracker using ethane as feedstock, and three integrated polyethylene plants with a combined annual capacity of 1.05 million tons. The complex will begin production by mid-2015. Developed through a joint venture with the Mexican group Idesa, the project will increase the share of gas in the company’s feedstock matrix, improving its competitiveness.
