Renewable Polyethylene

Sugar Cane based Polyethylene (or also known as renewable polyethylene) is made out of Ethanol, which becomes Ethylene after a dehydration process.

The final product (Polyethylene) is identical to Naphta or Gas based Polyethylene, therefore maintaining the physical properties for conversion into plastics products and also maintains its recycling properties.World’s first announced ethanol-based chemical pole, totally integrated from sugarcane to polyethylene, was recently announced by The Dow Chemical Company, in conjunction with Crystalsev, a large Sugar and Ethanol producer in Brazil. The pole is said to be projected to produce 770 million pounds per year of renewable LLDPE (linear low density polyethylene), will begin construction in 2008, and is slated to start production in 2011. The amount of Ethanol needed to make 1 metric ton of polyethylene is roughly 2 metric tons, as dehydration takes half of the weight in water, from the sugar cane based ethanol, before converting into ethylene (C2).

One of the main environmental benefits of this project will be the sequestration of roughly 2 kg of CO2 per kg of polyethylene produced, which comes from the CO2 absorbed by the sugar cane while growing, minus the CO2 emitted through the production process. Over 1.5 billion pounds of CO2 will be annually removed from the atmosphere, which is equivalent to the fossil emission of 1.400.000 Brazilian citizens (according to the Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center in 2004) or 5% of all São Paulo City CO2 equivalent emissions (according to the São Paulo municipal green house gasses emissions inventory or "Inventário de Emissões de Gases de Efeito Estufa do Município de São Paulo" in 2005).

Furthemore, the pole is said to be projected to generate its own energy from the burning of the sugar cane bagasse, which will not only power the whole pole, but also will be able to sell enough energy to light up a half million people city, and will be available during the dry season, which is exactly the season when it is most needed, and the hydroelectric plants are short on water reserves.