Braskem and Sojitz scale renewable MEG technology for PET bottles

29 Mar 2022 --- Braskem and Sojitz Corporation are partnering to bring renewable MEG technology to the market. MEG is the raw material used to produce PET, which has numerous applications and is an essential input in sectors such as textiles and packaging, especially beverage bottles.

Currently, PET is produced mainly from fossil-based raw materials such as naphtha, gas or coal, and its global market stands at around US$25 billion. On the other hand, monopropylene glycol (MPG) is a product that has a wide range of applications, from unsaturated polyester resins (UPR), commonly used in the construction sector, to cosmetics.

The companies have created a joint venture and aim to become the global bioMEG leader. They will potentially construct three industrial plants in the first project stage after the technology development is concluded.

Pooling expertise
Braskem, a pioneer in biopolymer production, and Sojitz, a Japan-oriented global trading company, will produce and market bioMEG (monoethylene glycol) and bioMPG (monopropylene glycol).

Subject to the conclusion of technology development in 2022, the business plan includes the construction of three industrial units, with the startup of the first plant in 2025. With the agreement signed, the establishment of the joint venture has been submitted to antitrust authorities for approval.

The joint venture will combine Braskem’s expertise in the industrial production and sale of chemicals and plastics made from renewable sources with Sojitz’s strong presence in Asia, a region that concentrates 80% of the global MEG market and where its consumption registered the highest growth. PET is produced mainly from fossil-based materials but Braskem is working to increase renewable alternatives.

“We are pooling the efforts, expertise and investments of the two companies that are references in their respective segments to create a global leader in bioMEG that can meet the strong market demand for [environmentally] sustainable and renewable products,” explains Gustavo Sergi, renewable chemicals & specialties officer at Braskem.

“The partnership between Braskem and Sojitz marks the advance of technology – developed on a demonstration-scale with Danish company Haldor Topsoe – to the commercial production phase with a clear combination of competencies and resources for scaling up.”

“We promote this [environmentally] sustainable material to various industries globally with our strong and wide-ranged market networks,” adds Manabu Endo, general manager of basic chemicals at Sojitz.

“This is a huge progress toward our ambition to realize 100% Biomass PET together with our project to produce bio Paraxylene, another raw material of PET, partnering with Japanese partners.”

Technology development
In 2017, Braskem partnered with Haldor Topsoe, a leading developer and provider of solutions and technologies to produce energy-efficient fuels and chemicals to demonstrate the innovative technology for converting sugar into bioMEG and bioMPG. The first bioMEG samples were produced in 2020, resulting from this technological cooperation.

“We embarked on a journey alongside our partners, combining Haldor Topsoe’s technology, Sojitz’s expertise and Braskem’s experience to achieve our goal of delivering a [environmentally] sustainable solution with the potential to revolutionize the textile and PET packaging markets,” continues Sergi.

“The initiative is also aligned with the goal set by Braskem to become a carbon-neutral company by 2050, underlining its commitment to sustainable development by producing renewable chemicals.”

Braskem also became the 40th participant to join Nextek’s groundbreaking Nextloopp project to create food-grade recycled PP from post-consumer packaging waste. This award-winning project, launched in October 2020, recently revealed “outstanding results” for its innovative tracer-based sorting trials.

By Joshua Poole