(BUSINESS WIRE) -- The Dow Chemical Company and Mitsui & Co., Ltd., of Tokyo, Japan announced the formation of a new joint venture and execution of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) aimed at providing innovative and sustainable product solutions to the global high-performance flexible packaging, hygiene and medical markets. This represents the world's largest biopolymers play and is Dow's largest investment in Brazil, a country in which Dow has operated successfully for more than 50 years.
Under the terms of the agreement, Mitsui would become a 50% equity interest partner in Dow's sugar cane growing operation in Santa Vitoria, Minas Gerais, Brazil. The initial scope of the joint venture includes production of sugar cane-derived ethanol for use as a renewable feedstock source, bringing new, biomass-based feedstocks to Dow while diversifying the Company's raw material streams from traditional fossil fuels.
When complete, Dow and Mitsui will have the world's largest integrated facility for the production of biopolymers made from renewable, sugar-cane derived ethanol. The project aligns with Dow's goal of developing low carbon solutions to meet the world's pressing energy and climate change challenges.
MRC