Cheap plastic made from sugarcane

Making plastic from sugar can be just as cheap as making it from petroleum, and it’s a lot better for the environment. Dow Chemical plans to build a plant in Brazil that it says will be the world’s largest facility for making bio-based chemical products.

Most large-volume chemicals are made from petroleum. About 80 million tons of polyethylene are made annually around the world. But high oil prices have increased the costs of petrochemicals. Sugar-cane ethanol production has allowed the industry to drive down costs, making ethanol competitive with fossil fuels.

Dow Chemical is keeping costs down by handling every part of the process, from growing the sugar-cane to producing the polymers. This makes it possible, to provide energy to run the plant with biomass left over from producing sugar from sugar-cane.

http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/38114/?p1=MstRcnt