Green resin stimulates demand for alcohol
Valor Econômico
The green-resin projects - from renewable raw materials - are leveraging the alcohol market aimed at chemical industries in Brazil. Companies like Solvay and Braskem begin using ethanol instead of petroleum byproducts for the production of green plastic. As suppliers are groups like Copersucar and ETH Bioenergia, controlled by Odebrecht, which have already closed contracts to meet such demand. With an eye on the potential of such market, traditional companies of the alcohol sector, such as Cosan, already plan entering in this segment, at clear expansion in the country.
The expectation is that the alcohol market aimed at the chemical industry generates between 1.5 billion and 1.8 billion liters this year, compared to nearly 1 billion liters intended for this segment in recent years. For 2011, the volumes shall not exceed 2 billion liters, said Antonio de Padua Rodrigues, technical director of Unica industries Union (Union of the Sugar-cane Industry). The production of chemical alcohol has turned around 1 billion liters and it is primarily intended for the pharmaceutical companies, for the production of medicines and perfumes, inside Brazil and abroad. Now, with the green resin projects coming out of the paper, the market for such product should broaden.
Copersucar has informed the company has closed a contract to supply chemical alcohol for Solvay in Brazil for 10 years. Besides supplying ethanol for the industries in the domestic market, Copersucar is also increasing the exports of this type of alcohol to the United States. Copersucar should provide 140 million liters of ethanol a year to Solvay. Last harvest, 2009/10, Copersucar sold 100 million liters to several clients, 84 million of which to the foreign market.
According to Sergio Zini, Director of Salvay, the project of the company foresees the partial substitution of naphtha by ethanol for the bioethylene production for the production of green PVC. The company buys the raw material from Quattor, incorporated this year by Braskem. The project should have gone operation last year, but it was postponed because of the crisis, according to Zini. The project is expected to gain relevance to the extent the demand for the green resins grows.
In the fourth quarter this year, Braskem, the largest petrochemical company of the Americas, begins operating its plant in Triunfo (RS), dedicated to the production of green resin. The industry has already closed an agreement with Tetra Pak for the supply of 5 thousand tons of green high-density polyethylene (HDPE) as of 2011. Pedro Mizutani, Vice President of Cosan, said the company is interested in closing contracts for the supply of alcohol for the chemical industry. "We are still analyzing the businesses".