Petrochemicals
Vital balance
Two Braskem units are now producing ETBE, a fuel bioadditive that enables technological innovations and environmental gains
written by: Aline Garrido
photo by: Eduardo Moody
The official opening of the company’s two ETBE production units in Bahia resulted from a BRL 100-million investment. It was an event worth celebrating on August 17, when Braskem Entrepreneurial Leader (CEO) Bernardo Gradin, hosted Governor Jaques Wagner and the Mayor of Camaçari, Luiz Carlos Caetano, as well as clients, company members and business leaders, including the Vice President of Sojitz in Brazil, Seiichi Hishikawa, at the event. “This moment symbolizes the realization of a very important project that will benefit society as a whole and reiterates Braskem’s commitment to Bahia, where the company has invested over BRL 2 billion since 2002,” said Gradin.
During the opening ceremony, the speakers made announcements about the future of the Camaçari Complex. Jaques Wagner also expressed his enthusiasm about the consortium formed by Braskem and the logistics companies Ultracargo and Log-In to conduct a feasibility study for retrofitting the Aratu Port Complex, a project that will require an estimated investment of BRL 400 million.
“We are developing the Camaçari Complex through the use of modern, clean and sustainable technologies,” underscores Celso Ferreira, the Industrial Director of the ETBE Units. It took three years of hard work to get where they are today. The challenge was finding an alternative to producing MTBE that would have a minimum impact on the supply chain for basic feedstocks, in response to the dwindling demand for MTBE on the world market due to environmental regulations.
“Producing ETBE was the option with the most value added, as well as being an eco-friendly alternative,” explains Pitiguara Moreira, who was in charge of the process of installing the plants, a team effort that involved 300 people. The two units’ ETBE production capacity totals 212,000 tonnes per year.
Partnering up with Sojitz was an opportunity to serve that client and invest in better ecoindicators at the same time. Braskem signed a long-term contract with the Japanese company to supply it with 120,000 tonnes of ETBE over the course of three years. Sojitz will start selling ETBE in 2009, and its goal is to increase its supply to the Japanese and European markets.
It took extensive, wide-ranging planning to consolidate the ETBE project, including teaming up with Construtora Norberto Odebrecht (CNO) to adapt the plant and carry out construction services. The logistics developed made it possible for the original MTBE units to go offline at the same time for just 26 days so the conversion project could be finalized without affecting the supply chain. “We drew up a plan to locate and install connection points between the new facilities that were carried out during two maintenance shutdowns at the MTBE units,” says CNO engineer Alexandre Borba.
The project took over 270 days to complete and racked up 200,000 man-hours without a single accident. “We carried out this project with a basic commitment to Health, Safety and Environment. And that made it possible to do all the work required with a zero accident rate,” says operator Ney George Silva. “The fact that the Braskem and CNO teams were on the same page was key to achieving that outcome,” says Production Manager Murilo Amorim.