Solvay resumes green plastics plant plan
O Estado de S. Paulo
The Belgian group Solvay resumed the project of construction, in Brazil, of a PVC plant using sugarcane as raw-material. Currently being analyzed by the management of the group, the undertaking may change the business environment of the sector in Brazil in 2012, year in which Braskem also launches the operations of a new resin plant.
In case the project of Solvay - which has a plant in Santo André (SP), in Brazil - is approved until the beginning of next year, it is possible the two companies compete to define which unit will go into operation before the other. When it was originally announced in 2007, Solvay's plan was to invest US$ 135 million.
Even though the project of the company is still subject to changes, it might be concluded between 12 and 18 months after its approval. In other words, the unit may go into operation in the early months of 2012, same term announced by Braskem to start production in the plant to be installed in Alagoas.
Together, the two projects should represent growth of nearly 260 thousand tons of PVC - plastic widely used in the consumer goods industry - a year, the equivalent to another fourth of the current installed capacity of the sector in Brazil, nearly 800 thousand tons.