São Paulo – Brazilian petrochemical company Braskem is going to invest 500 million reals (US$ 219 million) in its green polyethylene manufacturing plant, under development at the Triunfo Petrochemical Hub, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. The president at the company, Bernardo Gradin, announced the investment this week to the governor of the state, Yeda Crusius, according to information supplied by the state government’s press office.
The project’s foundation stone is going to be laid next month. The plant will be the first in the planet to manufacture plastic from ethanol. Braskem has already obtained an environmental license for operating. “The world crisis is helping us. We have got the commitment of investing US$ 219 million, and we are negotiating, in even better terms, the equipment that we had agreed to buy. The main ones have already been purchased, and should be delivered over the following days and weeks," said Gradin.
The plant is going to generate 1,500 jobs. The conclusion of the unit is scheduled for the first quarter of 2011, when the plastic should also start being sold. Estimated output is 200,000 tonnes per year of ethylene and polyethylene made of ethanol from sugarcane. According to information published at the Website of the government of Rio Grande do Sul, annual global demand for the product totals 600,000 tonnes.
The Brazilian state-owned company Petrobras is going to allocate 600 million reals (US$ 263 million) for reducing the amount of sulphur in the gasoline and diesel oil manufactured at the Alberto Pasqualini Refinery, located in the city of Canoas, also in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. The funds are in their final phase of approval by the board of managers at the refinery. The aim is to improve the quality of gasoline and diesel. To that extent, the company is going to create an industrial unit turned to reduction of sulphur and another to reduction of diesel.
The sulphur reduction plant should be ready early next year, and the diesel one, in late 2011. In the first quarter of 2010, Petrobras has committed to supplying the bus fleet of the metropolitan region of Porto Alegre, capital of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, with gasoline containing less sulphur, so as to improve the quality of the air. The governor of the state, who met with Gardin and the Supply director at Petrobras, Paulo Roberto Costa, underscored the environmental importance of the projects.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
