The 50:50 biopolymers joint venture of Dow Chemical (Midland, Michigan / USA; www.dow.com) and Mitsui & Co (Tokyo / Japan; www.mitsui.com), for which a memorandum of understanding was signed in July 2011 (see Plasteurope.com of 21.07.2011), has taken all regulatory hurdles. The deal sees Mitsui taking a 50% interest in Dow’s sugarcane-to-ethanol plant in Santa Vitória, Minas Gerais / Brazil that will provide renewable feedstock for the plastics.

Dow said engineering work on the Brazilian facility, along with equipment manufacture, accelerated in the third quarter of 2011 and is “proceeding according to schedule.” Start-up is scheduled for the second quarter of 2013.