A subsidiary of Cargill Inc. and Hatco Corp. parent company Kaufman Holdings said Monday that they have broken ground on a synthetic ester plant being built in Mairinque, Brazil.
The announcement came a year after the companies formed an alliance to produce biobased lubricants for South America. Mondays statement said the companies have also solidified that alliance by forming a joint venture – Innovatti-Industria e Comercio de Esteres Sinteticos Ltda.
The new factory, which is being built adjacent to an existing Cargill oilseed processing plant, will have capacity to produce 10,000 metric tons of lubricants and ester base stocks per year. Officials said it is scheduled to begin operating by the middle of 2004 and that it will make synthetic esters for automotive, industrial, metalworking and oil drilling applications in Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Venezuela.
Innovatti will draw on South American feedstock to serve South American customers from an accessible South American location, said Kurtis Miller, head of Cargill Industrial Oils and Lubricants.
The joint venture between Cargill Agricola S.A. and Hatco parent Kaufman Holdings will have a board of directors with equal membership from both companies. Cargill is based in Minneapolis, Minn., and is an international marketer, processor and distributor of agricultural, food, financial and industrial products. Hatco, of Fords, N.J., is a leading global producer of synthetic lubricant base stocks for the aviation, automotive, industrial, medical, cosmetics and personal care markets.