Brazil’s Braskem planning to restart Maceio chlor-alkali facility

HOUSTON (ICIS)–Braskem is focusing on the restart of operations at its Maceio, Alagoas, Brazil, chlor-alkali facility, targeting the start date possibly in November, according to local sources.

Braskem is planning to “restart operations at about 40% of capacity with a goal to reach 100% in the second half of 2021. Initially, Braskem will be using salt provided by domestic and international sources,” said the company source.

Braskem confirmed that operation at its polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plant in Alagoas is normal, and it continues to use imported ethylene dichloride (EDC).

“Operating rates [at the PVC facility] were reduced during the most critic time of the pandemic, but now they are normalized,” the company added.

Braskem expects to produce EDC in 2021, but it will assess the potential need to continue importing some EDC. The balance of domestic and imported volumes of EDC will depend on the market.

The company remains optimistic that 2021 will be a year of growth in the construction sector, probably resulting in high operating rates at the PVC plant.

PVC is used for applications including pipes and profiles, in the automobile industry and for medical devices.

Unipar Indupa, Braskem, Unipar Carbocloro, Vestolit and Pequiven are PVC producers in Latin America.

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