Brazil's Braskem, the largest petrochemical company in Latin America, said Thursday that it had succeeded in producing polyethylene from ethanol made from sugarcane.

The so-called "green polymer" is the result of a research project with an investment of 5 million U.S. dollars, the company said in a statement.

It added that the product is the first polyethylene entirely made from renewable raw-materials and certified by an international laboratory, Bela Analytic.

The polymer, which is broadly used to make flexible packing materials, will be produced on an industrial scale by the end of 2009.

The company is expected to build a plant with an annual production capacity of 200,000 tons, but the location of the plant has yet to be defined.

Braskem said the production of polymers from ethanol is aimed at supplying markets with higher quality and performance demands, especially the automobile industry, cosmetics, personal hygiene products and food packages.

Source: Xinhua