Green plastic for a blue world.

Braskem, a brazilian petrochemical company, has developed the world's first certified Green Plastic, according to ASTM D6866-06 Standard.

Braskem's Green Plastic is made 100% from renewable sources and is thus a better susbtitute for plastics made from oil.

Although other bioplastics already exist, Braskem's differentiate itself from others in the process used to produce ethene, which is made from dehydrating the sugar-cane ethanol. That's how Braskem produces what it calls Green Ethene, and that's the main secret to a 100% renewable Green Plastic.

That Green Ethene can be used to produce any kind of polyethylene(PE), which means any kind of plastic can be substituted by Braskem's Green Plastic.

The chain of production of the green Ethen allows for a bigger reduction of the carbon dyoxide in the atmosphere. For every 1kg of green Polyethylene, 2.5kg of CO2 is captured.

Braskem's Green Plastic is also highly versatile and can be used in any industries without the need to investment in adjustments or modifications.

On top of that, it has a highly competitive price.

Plans for 2010:

Braskem just signed a contract with Brazil's biggest sugar-cane ethanol producer, Cosan, to buy 175,000,000 L of ethanol in the next 5 years. The contract is estimated in USD 500,000,000.

Braskem is expanding its plant to allow the production of 200,000 tons of Green Plastic, of which 25% is already going to the asian market.

One of Braskem's main costumers in Asia is one of Japan's biggest cosmetics company, Shiseido.

About the ASTM D6866:

ASTM D6866 is the method approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for determining the renewable/biobased content of natural range materials like ethanol additives, biodiesel additives, and other biobased products.

Borrowing on the principles of radiocarbon dating, ASTM D6866 is able to determine the renewable carbon content of almost any type of solid, liquid, or gaseous products. The method provides a percentage determination of fossil carbon content versus renewable or biomass carbon content of a product or fuel blend.

ASTM D6866 is used extensively to certify the biobased content of bioplastics.

The downside of Green Plastic:

Although Braskem's Green Plastic is made from 100% renewable sources, that doesn't mean it is biodegradable. The production of the Green Plastic is more environmentally friendly, but it is only half of the solution. Hopefully, with more investments and good intentions to go in the right direction, one day we will find the perfect solution.

In the mean time, it's best to have a Green Plastic than the oil based plastic.

ABOUT BRASKEM

ABOUT ASTM D6866

[edit on 23-6-2010 by henriquefd]

I understand that there are bacteria that will eat plastic. It's not the same as being biodegradable because it takes a long time, but it's better than nothing. Perhaps Mother Earth knows what she's doing after all.

Although a more environmentally friendly to produce plastic may be desirable, i would Not call it Green. I think that is very misleading.

I would aim to create a biodegradable plastic like substance. as long as it's still true plastic polyethylene or something like it with long complex chains that don't break down it's no good for us. 80 million metric tons of the stuff is produced a year. This crap is as bad as Oil if not worse.

In that light, I can take no pleasure from a so called Green plastic.. it's swapping one evil for another.

Thanks for the info though.

I read about a plastic made of plants recently.
That would eliminate it staying around for a long time.

Originally posted by Sinter Klaas
I read about a plastic made of plants recently.
That would eliminate it staying around for a long time.

Well, Braskem's Green Plastic is made from a plant, if you think about it. It is made from the sugar cane. The thing is the sugar cane becomes ethanol, which is dehydrated in the process to create ethene, which is used to produce polyethylene, which is the Green Plastic.

It all started with a plant.

reply to post by henriquefd


Cool huh..
I will try and find the article I read it.

Nice link on biological plastic I found.
Link

Wiki link bio plastic.

Didn't find the article... I did find that we don't need oil to make plastic.

Cool but it's been done before. Hemp plastics are 100% biodegradable. Ford made the body panels on some of his first cars out of the stuff. It's a shame Dupont sunk so much money, time and effort into making Cannabis look so evil, just so his petroleum based plastics could make him a rich douche bag, otherwise we might not be worrying about all the plastic filling up our dumps and such.