“Alcohol chemistry innovation: Rhodia´s enabling ethanol technology in the Brazilian solvents industry”

The production of special solvents, like acetates, is largely dependent on petrochemical raw materials. Nevertheless, as early as 1940s, a special route was developed in Brazil to produce acetate based solvents using ethanol as raw material. This route competes directly with the petrochemical route and uses sugarcane ethanol. The pioneer developer of this technology in 1942 was Rhodia that still keeps the market leadership on ethanol based solvent market in Brazil. This presentation discusses some key aspects of Rhodia´s technology strategy. The research method used is the case study, since the company´s history provides unique insights. The results show that enabling technologies were responsible for the ethanol route technological and economical feasibility and suggests that social and institutional factors can cause relevant impact on this industry dominant technologies.