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Braskem S.A is a Brazilian petrochemical company headquartered in São Paulo. The company is the largest petrochemical company in Latin America and has become a major player in the international petrochemical market (8th largest resin producer worldwide).
Although its main feedstock is naphtha, Braskem's green ethylene plant was inaugurated in September, 2010. This green ethylene plant is an important step forward in the strategy of becoming a global leader in sustainable chemicals. The plant is the largest industrial-scale operation in the world producing ethylene made from 100% renewable raw materials, i.e., sugar-cane; however, sugar cane and other energy crops are not green, nor renewable if the fertilizers used to grow the crops were produced from fossil fuel, such as synthetic nitrogen...NH3. The project was conceived and installed in less than two years based on Braskem’s proprietary technology.
Located at the Triunfo petrochemical complex in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, the plant produces 200,000 tons of green ethylene, which will be transformed into an equivalent volume of green plastic.
Braskem is also implementing an integrated petrochemical complex in Mexico. The complex will consist of a cracker using ethane as feedstock, and three integrated polyethylene plants with a combined annual capacity of 1.05 million tons. The complex will begin production by mid-2015. Developed through a joint venture with the Mexican group Idesa, the project will increase the share of gas in the company’s feedstock matrix, improving its competitiveness.
In 2016, Braskem was fined $957 million over a bribery scandal.
Braskem is responsible for the sinking process of parts of the city of Maceió, in the state of Alagoas. This event has gained national notoriety since its beginning in 2018 and has since caused the displacement of around 60,000 people in the city.
Braskem Europe is headquartered in Rotterdam, Netherlands with two plants in Schkopau and Wesseling. Braskem Europe is a wholly owned subsidiary of Braskem S.A.
On July 27, 2011, Braskem announced the acquisition of the polypropylene business (PP) of Dow Chemical. The transaction involved 4 industrial units, 2 plants in the United States and 2 plants in Germany. The U.S. assets, located in Freeport, Texas and Seadrift, Texas, have combined production capacity of 505 kton, which represents 50% of the country’s annual PP production of 1,425 kton. The German assets, located in the cities of Wesseling and Schkopau, have combined annual production capacity of 545 kton. On September 30, 2011, the acquisition was approved by the antitrust agencies of the United States, the Federal Trade Commission and the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as the European Union. The transaction made the company the largest PP producer in the United States.
In 2012, the company commissioned a new PVC plant with annual production capacity of 200 kton in the state of Alagoas. Braskem also expanded its production of butadiene, a key input used by the rubber industry, at its plant located in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, which increased its annual production capacity of this product by 100 kton; in line with its strategy of adding value to the existing chains.
In 2014, the company completed its investment in the expansion and conversion of one of its polyethylene production lines in Bahia to produce metallocene-based LLDPE. This resin, of more modern technology, will supply the plastic film industry.
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