Braskem has inaugurated the expansion of the Technology and Innovation Center (CTI), located in the Petrochemical Complex of Triunfo, in the Metropolitan Region.

The new building has a total area of 6,000 m2, including 2,000 m2 of laboratories with the latest equipment, which represents a 25% increase in the company's research and development area at the site. The investment in the expansion was R$ 108 million, of which R$ 64 million in the physical structure of the new building and R$ 44 million in laboratory equipment.

According to Braskem's Product Development and Advanced Materials Director, Fabio Lamon, the building will now house expanded structures for laboratories such as catalysis and advanced characterization, chromatography, polymer fractionation and microscopy. The site has a dedicated structure for PVC and EVA, with a focus on finding new applications for these resins, such as new uses for Green EVA produced from sugarcane. “The CTI located at the Triunfo Complex is the largest of Braskem's technology and innovation centers,” he says.

Lamon explains that the company has 200 active projects. “Our goal in 2023, at the end of the year, is to finalize projects and deliver new products that add up to around 200 million dollars in risk-adjusted net present value. It is a metric to measure innovation. We surround this objective with the continued delivery of projects that generate value for the chain”, he points out, adding that sustainable innovations reinforce the company's commitment to the circular economy and to complying with good practices in relation to paper in the social and environmental spheres. “The goal is to reach carbon neutrality by 2050”, he stresses. 

Due to the need to adapt to good practice policies, Lamon points out that the use cases of resins from renewable sources for different applications, including applications with greater added value, are multiplying. According to Lamon, the footwear and fashion industry is among those benefiting from the development of new technologies, such as renewable EVA. “A major global manufacturer of bras replaced the foam material used in the bra cups with the new expanded EVA technology”, he explains. According to Lamon, the main sports material brands have found solutions based on the use of green polyethylene and Green EVA.

Braskem's Vice President of Innovation, Technology and Sustainable Development, Antonio Queiroz, points out that the new laboratory will allow applications and solutions for PVC, EVA and Green EVA produced from sugarcane. “The site also houses a state-of-the-art Quality Control Laboratory, which controls the resins we produce at the Triunfo Complex. And it is Braskem's capacity that will allow the development of new technologies for a carbon-neutral circular economy,” he points out. Queiroz states that the structure is interconnected in action platforms focused on recycling, use of biomass for the production of chemical products, lower consumption of raw materials, energy and carbon emissions. 

Braskem's CEO, Roberto Bischoff, says that the new structure has a strategic role in the development of sustainable products. According to Bischoff, the company invested BRL 3.5 billion over the last five years in Rio Grande do Sul. This part of sustainability is of fundamental importance. In the last two years, we have expanded the production capacity of this plant and its start-up should take place in May or early June. This is a raw material from a renewable source made from ethanol produced in Brazil and which is increasingly exported and accepted by countries. Braskem's growth goes through an avenue of growth that is clearly linked to bioproducts,” he concludes.