Under the agreement, Mitsui will hold a 50% equity stake in Dow’s sugar cane growing operation in Santa Vitoria, Minas Gerais.
The JV will initially focus on the production of sugar cane-derived ethanol for use as a renewable feedstock source, bringing new, biomass-based feedstocks to Dow.
Upon completion, the integrated facility will produce biopolymers made from renewable, sugar-cane derived ethanol.
The first phase of the project includes the construction of a new sugarcane-to-ethanol production facility in Santa Vitoria, and the construction is expected to start in the third quarter of this year.
The transaction is expected to close before the end of this year, pending the receipt of certain regulatory approvals.
Dow chairman and CEO Andrew Liveris said the two companies will create the unique combination of world-leading technology and renewable feedstocks to meet needs in an important, rapidly growing region of the world.
The parties said biopolymers produced at this facility will be a green alternative and drop-in replacement for the high-performance flexible packaging, hygiene and medical markets, offering customers the same performance attributes with a more sustainable environmental profile.
