Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Dow and Crystalsev to Make Polyethylene from Sugar Cane Ethanol in Brazil
www.greencarcongress.com ^ | 07/19/2007 | Staff

Posted on 07/19/2007 10:31:59 AM PDT by Red Badger

The Dow Chemical Company, the world’s largest producer of polyethylene, and Crystalsev, one of Brazil’s largest ethanol players, plan to form a joint venture to manufacture polyethylene from sugar cane ethanol. With production expected to start in 2011, the plant will have an annual capacity of 350,000 metric tons.

The new facility will use ethanol with Dow’s proprietary technology to manufacture DOWLEXT polyethylene resins—the raw material required to make polyethylene, the world’s most widely-used plastic.

At a molecular level, the joint venture’s product will be identical to the DOWLEXT polyethylene resins manufactured at other Dow facilities. The new material is a drop-in replacement made with a renewable resource—not a different polymer altogether. Also, like the traditional PE product, the sugar cane-based polyethylene would be fully recyclable using existing infrastructure.

Ethylene is traditionally produced using either naphtha or natural gas liquids, both of which are petroleum products. The partners estimate that the new process will produce significantly less CO2 compared to the traditional polyethylene manufacturing process.

The companies have already begun conducting a feasibility study to assess various aspects of the project, including engineering design, location, infrastructure needs, supply chain logistics, energy and economics. The study, which is expected to take one year, will also look at the possibility of receiving approval for the project and the process as a Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). The CDM was developed by the United Nations to help companies manage their carbon credits from emerging market projects.

The areas being considered as potential sites for the new facility are currently being used for low-density cattle grazing and are not near any rain forests. Both companies have underscored their commitment to ensuring that the plant is located in a sustainable environment.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; News/Current Events; Technical
KEYWORDS: climatechange; energy; environment; ethanol; fuel; oil; plastic; polyethylene; un
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041 next last
As if we needed another way to use food.........
1 posted on 07/19/2007 10:32:02 AM PDT by Red Badger
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: sully777; Fierce Allegiance; vigl; Cagey; Abathar; A. Patriot; B Knotts; getsoutalive; ...

Another way to waste our food ping!....


2 posted on 07/19/2007 10:33:27 AM PDT by Red Badger (No wonder Mexico is so filthy. Everybody who does cleaning jobs is HERE!.......)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger
The areas being considered as potential sites for the new facility are currently being used for low-density cattle grazing and are not near any rain forests. Both companies have underscored their commitment to ensuring that the plant is located in a sustainable environment.

I wonder what will happen as more and more companies are motivated by this kind of leftist ignorance instead of profit. And it seems like a bad idea to depend too heavily on crops. What about the weather and pest?
3 posted on 07/19/2007 10:42:12 AM PDT by Jaysun (Certified thread hijacker since 7-7-07 (by restornu and blu))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger
Vehicles powered by sugar cane? Now that's one . . .

SWEET RIDE!!!

4 posted on 07/19/2007 10:43:23 AM PDT by Bluegrass Conservative
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger
As if we needed another way to use food....

There is some fantastic progress being made as a result of high petroleum costs. Yes, making ethanol from corn is a waste but there are a number of other crops that can be grown and reaped cheaply in lousy soil, making them a good economic alternative that does not empower the Saudis or Chavez.

I think this has great potential. Sugar cane and corn are just stepping stones.

5 posted on 07/19/2007 10:45:47 AM PDT by GOP_Party_Animal
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger
It’s not our food, it belongs to Brazil. Sweet potatoes can also be used to create ethanol and I eat them once a year. In fact corn is only a stopgap biofuel source and inside of 10 years won’t be used for ethanol production. It is only being used now because it can be produced in sufficient quantities in the short term. Potato farmers in the hilly glacial till areas stand to be the biggest winners as they can reclaim the snack food markets they lost to corn in the eighties and go into ethanol stock supply when corn prices retreat. Of course if they made that public knowledge you wouldn’t get enough extra corn to supply the new ethanol plants.
6 posted on 07/19/2007 10:47:12 AM PDT by Camel Joe (liberal=socialist=royalist/imperialist pawn=enemy of Freedom)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: GOP_Party_Animal

Gee, great minds do think alike.


7 posted on 07/19/2007 10:49:15 AM PDT by Camel Joe (liberal=socialist=royalist/imperialist pawn=enemy of Freedom)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

I sure wish they’d use some of that cane sugar to replace the corn syrup in Coke. I miss the old flavor, which I understand is only available around passover as their kosher version.


8 posted on 07/19/2007 10:50:14 AM PDT by polymuser (There is one war and one enemy.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Camel Joe

Yup!


9 posted on 07/19/2007 10:50:44 AM PDT by GOP_Party_Animal
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Camel Joe
It’s not our food, it belongs to Brazil.

It's just a pilot plant, but if this is a $$$$ maker, you better believe the American Ag Industry will be all over it.....

10 posted on 07/19/2007 10:50:47 AM PDT by Red Badger (No wonder Mexico is so filthy. Everybody who does cleaning jobs is HERE!.......)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: polymuser

Corn syrup is not Kosher?.......


11 posted on 07/19/2007 10:51:41 AM PDT by Red Badger (No wonder Mexico is so filthy. Everybody who does cleaning jobs is HERE!.......)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: GOP_Party_Animal; Camel Joe
1. F-ck the Fanjul brothers (Flosun). Repeal the tariff on imported can sugar.

2. What about beet sugar. I can't think of the last time I ate a beet, and I do know that we produce a significant amount here.

3. Ethanol from corn is a waste of time and energy. Its also pushing up the price of a staple food product in much of the developing world.

12 posted on 07/19/2007 10:52:33 AM PDT by Clemenza (Rudy Giuliani, like Pesto and Seattle, belongs in the scrap heap of '90s Culture)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Keith in Iowa

ping!....


13 posted on 07/19/2007 10:52:58 AM PDT by Red Badger (No wonder Mexico is so filthy. Everybody who does cleaning jobs is HERE!.......)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

I don’t think this has to do with food.

There is a world excess capacity of sugar and Brazil can produce lots more. The ethanol is actually rum.

We could be importing Brazil’s excess sugar at a lower price were it not for a fantastic sugar lobby that uses tax money subsidies and restricts imports.

The chemical conversion of ethanol to polyethelene is a good use of the excess sugar. Since most polyethelene is derived from petroleum feed stocks, since these feed stocks are becoming increasingly more expensive, it is a good thing if the end product can compete with similar PE derived from petroleum..

This is nearly the same as making sugar based ethanol to be blended with gasoiine.Brazil is probably the world leader in gasahol fuels.


14 posted on 07/19/2007 10:53:56 AM PDT by bert (K.E. N.P. +12 . Happiness is a down sleeping bag)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

Google “kosher coke” and see for yourself.


15 posted on 07/19/2007 10:54:58 AM PDT by polymuser (There is one war and one enemy.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: polymuser

Coke made in Mexico is still made with sugar (for now). You can find it in the old-style glass bottles at the smaller grocery stores that cater to our [ahem] southern neighbors.


16 posted on 07/19/2007 10:56:38 AM PDT by 1rudeboy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

funny environmentalists are not concerned with the billions of corn plants being sacrificed, but when it comes to a redwood tree... oh boy!


17 posted on 07/19/2007 10:57:32 AM PDT by Ancient Drive
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: bert
I don’t think this has to do with food.

I won't be long before the American corn farmers start joining the chorus........

18 posted on 07/19/2007 10:58:40 AM PDT by Red Badger (No wonder Mexico is so filthy. Everybody who does cleaning jobs is HERE!.......)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

You Sir have one of the best tag lines I’ve ever read. Having visited Juarez around 1980 I gotta believe that has been the case for quite some time.


19 posted on 07/19/2007 11:12:53 AM PDT by Camel Joe (liberal=socialist=royalist/imperialist pawn=enemy of Freedom)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: GOP_Party_Animal
There is some fantastic progress being made as a result of high petroleum costs.

Yes, making ethanol from corn is a waste but there are a number of other crops that can be grown and reaped cheaply in lousy soil, making them a good economic alternative that does not empower the Saudis or Chavez.

I think this has great potential. Sugar cane and corn are just stepping stones.

You're exactly right.

20 posted on 07/19/2007 11:12:59 AM PDT by vikzilla
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson