Dow Chemical and Mitsui Joint Venture Will Use Sugar Cane in Manufacture of High-Performance Plastics

August 15th, 2011 by Glenn Meyers

More scalable innovation is taking place in the manufacture of high-grade plastics without petroleum.

Dow Chemical Company and Japanese-based Mitsui & Co., Ltd. have announced the formation of a new joint venture aimed at providing sustainable product solutions to the global high-performance flexible packaging, hygiene and medical markets.

According to Biofuels Digest, this agreement represents the world’s largest biopolymers joint venture and is Dow’s largest investment in Brazil, a huge producer of sugar cane.

In a press announcement, Andrew Liveris, Dow’s Chairman and CEO, said the joint venture combines the strengths of two global companies in using renewable feedstocks to meet needs in an important, rapidly growing region of the world. “This is right on strategy for Dow and supports our 2015 Sustainability goals,” he said.

Under the terms of the agreement, Mitsui will become a 50 percent equity partner in Dow’s sugar cane operation in Santa Vitória, Minas Gerais, Brazil. The companies plan to produce sugar cane-derived ethanol as a renewable feedstock source. Importantly, in using such biomass-based feedstocks, Dow indicates it will be “diversifying the company’s raw material streams from traditional fossil fuels.”

This agreement means that Dow and Mitsui will have the world’s largest integrated facility for the production of biopolymers by using ethanol from renewable, sugar.

Ideally, the biopolymers produced at this facility will be a green alternative for the high-performance flexible packaging, hygiene and medical markets, offering customers the same performance attributes with a more sustainable environmental profile.

The first phase of the project includes the construction of a new sugarcane-to-ethanol production facility in Santa Vitória. Construction is expected to commence in the third quarter of 2011.

Pedro Suarez, president of Dow Latin America, offered this perspective: “With Mitsui, we will be fortifying our already strong base for advancing renewable materials, as well as enhancing the reputations of Dow and Brazil as worldwide leaders for a green economy.”

Photo: Ken_PA

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Tags: Brazil, Brazil sugar cane, Corporate Social Responsibility, Dow Chemical Company, green packaging solutions, Minas Gerais, Mitui, Pedro Suarez, Santa Vitória, sugar cane ethanol used to make plastic, sugar cane to ethanol

About the Author

Glenn Meyers is a writer, producer, and director. Meyers was editor and site director of Green Building Elements, a contributing writer for CleanTechnica, and is founder of Green Streets MediaTrain, a communications connection and eLearning hub. As an independent producer, he's been involved in the development, production and distribution of television and distance learning programs for both the education industry and corporate sector. He also is an avid gardener and loves sustainable innovation.