Dow and Mitsui to develop bio-based feedstocks

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Dow and Mitsui to develop bio-based feedstocks
, q" Z5 m( G& s6 k# }" uThursday, July 21, 2011
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Midland, MI - Dow Chemical and Mitsui & Co. of Tokyo, Japan announced the formation of a new joint venture and execution of a memorandum of understanding aimed at providing innovative and sustainable product solutions to the global high-performance flexible packaging, hygiene and medical markets. This represents the world’s largest biopolymers play and is Dow’s largest investment in Brazil. Under the terms of the agreement, Mitsui would become a 50% equity interest partner in Dow’s sugar cane growing operation in Santa Vitória, Minas Gerais, Brazil. The initial scope of the joint venture includes production of sugar cane-derived ethanol for use as a renewable feedstock source, bringing new, biomass-based feedstocks to Dow while diversifying the company’s raw material streams from traditional fossil fuels. When complete, Dow and Mitsui will have the world’s largest integrated facility for the production of biopolymers made from renewable, sugar-cane derived ethanol. Once fully operational, this platform will be back-integrated into renewable sugar cane, enabling environmentally sustainable production of high performance plastics with a reduced carbon footprint. Biopolymers produced at this facility will be a green alternative and drop-in replacement for the high-performance flexible packaging, hygiene and medical markets, offering customers the same performance attributes with a more sustainable environmental profile. The first phase of the project includes the construction of a new sugarcane-to-ethanol production facility in Santa Vitória. Construction is expected to commence in the third quarter of 2011.