Braskem Bioplastic – Green Polyethylene

Euro Machinery buy and sell new and used machines within flexible plastic production. Therefore, we are in touch with many extrusion – and bag making companies. Many of these companies already have green strategies in their production, and therefore use alternative polymers in their production. Naturally, one of the brands that is used is Braskem’s I’m Green^TM. Braskem is the largest producer of thermoplastic resins in the Americas, the world’s largest producer of biopolymers, and the largest polypropylene producer in the United States.

Bioplastic, like Braskem’s, is made of plant material instead of oil. Braskem provides a quality bioplastic called “I’m green ^TM Polyethylene” . It can be used as a replacement to conventional Polyethylene made from oil. In this article we will explain the benefits of bioplastic and how you can start using it in a production environment.

Bioplastic

I’m green ^TM Polyethylene is made from sugarcane which is a renewable raw material. It can be planted and harvested every year making it a good source for plastic production instead of relying on finite sources of oil. Sugarcane is able to absorb CO2 while it is being grown, so in this way production of bioplastic can be used to capture CO2 in the atmosphere. The process for converting sugarcane into a plastic is demonstrated in this image:

(Braskem 2019)

Circular Economy

The process of bioplastic production fits into the idea of circular economy. The concept is that a material can be used more than once and over, over again. When a raw material is manufactured it goes into a product. The product can be recycled and made back into a raw material again. This forms a circular path for the raw material meaning little to no new raw material is needed. The concept visualized looks like this:

(Green Dot Plastics 2019)

I’m Green ^TM as a raw material can be inserted into the circular economy and after its first use can be recycled and made into raw  material again. This makes the whole process very sustainable because I’m Green^TM plastic has been sourced from plant material. 

Braskem’s other initiatives in alternative plastic resins

Braskem is one of the world’s largest producers of polymers and have many green initiatives that contributes positively to a circular economy. Besides resins from sugar canes, Braskem also produces resins from recycled plastic and resins that are both renewable and recycled. How to implement a new resin in the production?

Bioplastic in Production

We are excited for our customers to use and develop products from alternative polymers. However, in a production environment it can be costly to try out new materials and this can be a barrier that stops many from implementing. Therefore, we have developed our own solution to make adoption of bioplastics an easier process.

We have  lab extruder machines that we have developed specifically for testing out small batches before full production. We currently offer two models; EM LabEx-1  and EM LabEx-3. A mono layer and a 3 layer co-extruder version.

If you are attending the K-Fair you can see the EM LabEx-3 running there with Braskem’s I’m Green^TM Visit us at K 2022 on our stand in Hall 11 stand number I46.