# Bio-based polyethylene and MEG

Polyethylene and MEG made from sugarcane ethanol instead of oil or gas; chemically identical, about 0.2% of PE, sold at a premium.

Source page: https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/bio_pe/

Bio-based chemicals · Bio-based polymers & platforms · No. 114

- Single chemical
- Feedstock: Crops and biomass
- bio-ethylene capacity 260 kt/yr at Braskem Triunfo (2023); green PE sales 191 kt in 2024, up 23% (S&P Global, Feb 2025); over 1.2 Mt produced 2010-2023
- -3.0 t CO₂e per t
- HS 390110
 Bio-based chemicals · Bio-based polymers & platforms · Foundation · Matter

Some shampoo bottles are made of plastic grown in Brazilian cane fields, chemically identical to plastic from oil.

Chart: Illustration: Bio-based polyethylene and MEG

##### Where it comes from

Chart: Map of where it comes from

Cane ethanol is passed over a hot catalyst to make ethylene, then polymerised in ordinary reactors; it takes about 1.7-1.75 t of ethanol per tonne of ethylene.

##### Three things to know

1. Braskem's 2023 expansion cost $87 million and raised Triunfo's capacity by 30% to 260 kt a year.
2. Braskem's 2025 study puts bio-HDPE about 5 kg CO2e per kg better than fossil HDPE.
3. Over 1.2 Mt of bio-PE was made between 2010 and 2023, almost all at one Brazilian plant.

##### The journey

1. 1 **Sugarcane**About 80-85 litres of ethanol per tonne
2. 2 **Ethanol**Trucked from mills to Triunfo, southern Brazil
3. 3 **Dehydration**Catalyst at 350-450 C makes ethylene
4. 4 **Polymerisation**Standard reactors make HDPE, LLDPE or EVA
5. 5 **Use and recycling**Recycled with fossil PE, not biodegradable
 Covered in [The chemical industry: what it makes and how it is organisedChemicals](https://www.materialinsights.org/learn/chemicals/chem-industry-map/)

##### Go deeper pick a tab to open it in full

## Other sections

- [Overview](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/bio_pe/overview/index.md)
- [Correlation](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/bio_pe/correlation/index.md)
- [Production route](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/bio_pe/routes/index.md)
- [Production](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/bio_pe/production/index.md)
- [Feedstocks](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/bio_pe/feedstocks/index.md)
- [Cycles](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/bio_pe/cycles/index.md)
- [Trading](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/bio_pe/trading/index.md)
- [Movement](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/bio_pe/movement/index.md)
- [Regulation](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/bio_pe/regulation/index.md)
- [Characteristics](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/bio_pe/characteristics/index.md)
- [Emissions](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/bio_pe/emissions/index.md)
- [Relationships](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/bio_pe/links/index.md)