Braskem SA, Sao Paulo, Brazil, has completed a project to expand production capacity of linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) at its Camacari petrochemical plant in Camacari Industrial Complex, Bahia, Brazil.
The expanded production line, now in operation, will boost LLDPE production at the Camacari complex by 120,000-tonnes/year, Braskem said on Jan. 15.
Of the additional 120,000 tpy production, a total of 100,000 tpy will be part of the Braskem Flexus line, which is the company’s brand of metallocene-based polyethylene.
The expansion project, which required an investment of about 50 million Brazilian real, will allow Braskem to meet nearly all of Brazil’s growing domestic demand for metallocene-based resin, to which production from the newly expanded line has been dedicated, according to Luciano Guidolin, vice-president of Braskem’s polyolefin business.
At the announced modernization and expansion work at Camacari, Braskem said the project would involve converting one of the plant’s existing polyethylene production lines into one that exclusively would produce the specialty metallocene-based resin, which is used in packaging that requires specific features such as increased resistance, gloss, transparency and sealing properties, the company said in an Oct. 17, 2013, press release.
Prior to the expansion project, Braskem’s production capacity for metallocene-based polyethylene averaged 350,000 tpy, according to the company’s 2013 annual report.
