Sustainea, a joint venture of Sojitz and Brazil's Braskem, plans to invest about $400 million in its first plant, in Lafayette, Indiana. Built next to Primient's corn plant, it will make bio-based MEG (monoethylene glycol), a key ingredient of PET used in drink bottles, food packaging and clothing fibers. Production is planned for 2028, once the partners make a final investment decision. How it works The plant will turn dextrose, a sugar made from corn, into bio-MEG. Primient, its neighbor, will supply the dextrose and runs on power from its own cogeneration plants rather than coal. Indiana farmers grow more than a billion bushels of corn a year, which the state says gives the project a steady supply. The bigger plan Sustainea plans three plants with total capacity of 700,000 tonnes of bio-MEG a year. Besides up to $6.9 million in state tax credits, Indiana offered up to $100,000 in training grants, and the city and county added their own incentives. The project followed Governor Eric Holcomb's trip to Brazil in April 2024.
