Braskem seeks partner for green car
Valor Econômico - 06/04/2008
In the eve of announcing the address of its new plant of "green polyethylene", produced from ethanol, Braskem seeks among car makers a partnership for the supply this resin in large scale. According to the company's officer of Institucional Relations, Marcelo Lyra, the initial idea is to create a special line of vehicles in which the traditional plastic parts, of fossil origin, are replaced by green plastic. Later, Braskem wants to offer the car industry the substitution of metal for green plastic of some parts, such as fuel tank, intake duct, and sun breaker, among others. The next step, according to Lyra, would be the development of a specific green resin for the manufacturing of doors, hoods, trunks and bumpers. However, for this second case, it would be necessary to develop a project of a specific car, explained the officer. And the makers seem to be very interested in the possibilities. The materials' specialist of SAE Brasil (entity that represents the engineers of the car industry), Jose Barbosa, affirms that the sector has already developed advanced studies on the increasing the use of plastic in cars. He mentioned other applications besides those mentioned by the Braskem officer, such as gears, head cover, crankcase door, torsion bars, helicoidal springs and semi-elliptical springs. He also guaranteed that the makers have already examined the use of the plastic in doors, hoods and trunks. Barbosa said that, nowadays, the cost of production of the fossil plastic - as far as it is directly related to the cost of oil - is not interesting yet. However, according to him, the arrival of the green resin might help balancing this equation. Lyra and Barbosa agree that the great benefit of the use of plastic parts in cars is the reduction of vehicles' weight, which results in lesser consumption of fuel and emission of pollutants. The SAE Brasil's specialist, however, is emphatic in pointing out that the plastic used in cars must be recycled. "Otherwise, the entire environmental appeal becomes worthless", stated Barbosa.