Brazilian chemical giant braskem continues to gather customer interest in its new plant, expected to open the end of 2010, that will convert sugar cane into ethanol to make green ethylene, which is then converted to polyethylene pe. The facility, located in the south of brazil, will have a capacity of 200,000 tons and initially make low density, linear low density, and high density polyethylene hdpe for packaging uses. The recent list of companies agreeing to use the sugarcanederived pe includes johnson & johnson for sun care products, japanese cosmetics maker shiseido, and argentine film producer petropack. Dow chemical co. And ethanol producer crystalsev also plan to open a plant in brazil to make pe from sugar cane. The plant, expected to have a capacity of 350,000 tons, has delayed its opening until 2012.some of braskem&rsquos partners who plan to use polyethylene pe from sugar cane shiseido a japanese cosmetics company petropack an argentine company that makes films for food packaging in latin america acinplas a brazilian maker of perforated plastic bags for fruits and vegetables johnson & johnson the brand owner will use the material for sun protection packaging tetra pak will use hdpe for plastic caps and closures
