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Green polyethylene

14.03.2009

At a conference on bioplastics held in 2008 in Cologne (Germany), Brazilian chemists talked about their new development: they learned how to make polyethylene from sugar cane.

First, ethyl alcohol is obtained from sugar cane using a routine process, and then the alcohol is converted into ethylene by a dehydration reaction. Finally, ethylene is polymerized in the usual way. By-products are mainly water with a small amount of ether and unreacted alcohol.

"Green" polyethylene is no different from conventional polyethylene, except for small differences in the isotopic composition of carbon (plant carbon is slightly different from oil carbon). So if a company begins to claim that its polyethylene is produced without harming the environment, then this statement can be verified by carbon isotopes.

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