It gathers over R$ 330 million in assets, 128 first-line researchers and technicians, 11 laboratories and six pilot-plants to develop, improve and test new products, processes and applications, within three thousand square meters of area built in (RS).

Partnerships with universities and other research institutions from Brazil and other countries help speed up new developments. The Universidade Luterana do Brasil - Ulbra [Lutheran University of Brazil - Ulbra] is one of Braskem’s partners, which contributes to the assembly of its catalysis laboratory at the Canoas campus, in the Great Porto Alegre.

At the Technology Center, Braskem also offers courses, training and technical support to the customers that need new applications in thermoplastic resins. It maintains partnerships not only with the third generation - the plastic transformers - but also with equipments manufacturers with the purpose to reach the best performance of processes and products. Thus, it stimulates new businesses, adding value to the plastic production chain.

The Granulation Laboratory incorporates additives to the samples produced by the pilot-plants and performs tests for transformation. It also generates samples in a sufficient scale so that they can be evaluated at the customers’.
 
The Physical Tests Laboratory, for instance, evaluates the products’ mechanical properties, simulating the products’ performance in end use and the requirements that they will be submitted to along their shelf life. 

The Characterization Laboratory is used to identify the chemical composition of samples sent by the customers, characterizing additives contained in the products and even performs microscopy analyses. And the Fraction Laboratory works to identify the products’ structural characteristics.

The Wet Process Laboratory helps in the evaluations of the solution products’ properties, and also prepares such products for several other tests, like chromatography and delamination.

At the Piping Laboratory, the Center obtains information to support piping systems, performs the accelerated ageing of the water and gas pipes in order to assess and ensure the behavior within up to 50 years of use and simulates the maintenance of installed lines.

The Rheology Laboratory evaluates the cast products’ properties and predicts the behavior in transformer machines.

The Processing Laboratory, endowed with transformation equipments similar to those found at the customers’ and with a processing capacity of 800 tons/month of resins, generates samples of finished products for evaluation and new formulations to test their performance with the customers.

Endowed with streamlined equipments, the Catalysis Laboratory performs the evaluation and the development of catalysts for resins like polyethylene and PET. A similar function is assigned to the Catalysts Characterization Laboratory, which evaluates the physical-chemical composition of the catalysts and catalytic supports.  Yet the Polymerization Laboratory evaluates the performance of the catalysts developed internally and by other suppliers, besides testing raw materials used in the polymerization process.


In 2007, Braskem developed the first internationally certified green polymer, a high-density polyethylene made from sugar cane ethanol, a 100% renewable raw material. In order to make this project possible, a pilot plant was built in Triunfo, with a capacity for 12 tons/year, which have been directed towards the commercial development of the product. In 2008, the first linear green polyethylene was developed for applications in food packing (films).

Braskem finishes the studies for the implementation of a new industrial plant for the production of green polyethylene, with a capacity of 200 thousand tons/year, expected to initiate its operations in 2010.