U.S. Department of Energy Jointly Funds Broin Project to Commercialize DuPont Cellulosic Ethanol Technology
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Partnership With Broin Accelerates Commercialization of DuPont Cellulosic Technology to 2009
WILMINGTON, Del., Feb. 28 -- The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced joint funding with Broin Companies in the development of a bio-refinery plant that will commercialize cellulosic ethanol technology developed by DuPont (NYSE:DD). The DOE funding accelerates the development of a bio-refinery at Broin's Emmetsburg, Iowa facility to 2009.
"President Bush has set a goal for the United States to reduce its reliance on petroleum and has asked industry to meet that challenge by bringing to market new energy options," said Thomas M. Connelly, DuPont executive vice president and chief innovation officer. "We are appreciative of the Department of Energy's efforts to accelerate the delivery of cellulosic biofuels to the U.S. market and for continuing its support of DuPont's cellulosic ethanol technology."
In January, President Bush toured DuPont's leading-edge biofuels R&D and commercialization efforts and its cellulosic ethanol bio-refinery research program at the DuPont Experimental Station, the company's global R&D headquarters in Wilmington.
In 2003, the DOE provided a four-year, $19 million matching grant to DuPont to develop a technology package to produce cellulosic ethanol. DuPont chose corn stover -- the stalks, cobs and leaves that are left in the field after harvest -- as the target for its research because of the logistical advantages of harvesting, transporting and producing ethanol from this cellulosic feedstock. DuPont subsidiary Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc. has provided significant market and agronomy insight throughout the project. Deere & Company is working with DuPont on corn stover collection and transportation logistics. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory has been a key partner in the development of the pretreatment and fermentation technology. Led by DuPont, the Integrated Corn-Based BioRefinery research program technology system includes:
1. Pretreatment of corn stover to separate the lignin from the plant's
cellulose backbone to provide access to the cellulose for further
processing
2. An enzymatic process called saccharification to convert the cellulosic
materials to fermentable sugars; and
3. A novel technology developed to ferment the sugars to make high
concentrations of cellulosic ethanol.
In addition, Michigan State University partnered with DuPont engineers to study the agriculture sustainability aspects of harvesting corn plants from the field in a comprehensive life cycle analysis. The results of this study are expected later this year. The Integrated BioRefinery technology system significantly increases the amount of ethanol produced per acre by using both corn grain and stover from the same land.
"DuPont's cellulosic ethanol technology is best-in-class because of its unique ability to efficiently convert nearly all the simple and complex sugars in corn plants into ethanol. Work is continuing on the integrated process to further improve the economics of cellulosic conversion," Connelly said.
The technology is licensed for use at Broin's Emmetsburg facility. Broin is the nation's largest dry mill ethanol producer in the United States. Broin will expand a conventional corn dry mill facility in Emmetsburg into a commercial scale bio-refinery designed to utilize advanced corn fractionation and lignocellulosic conversion technologies to produce ethanol from corn fiber and corn cobs. The expansion will utilize an existing infrastructure with projected costs for the increased capabilities at just over $200 million. The Emmetsburg plant began operations in March 2005 as a 50 million gallons per year dry mill facility. Once the expansion is complete, the facility will produce 125 million gallons per year of ethanol from corn and corn cobs. The expansion will take approximately 30 months.
The first feedstock for the Emmetsburg operation will be corn cobs. In addition, the bio-refinery facility will utilize waste streams from the grain ethanol operations. The lignin that is separated away from the sugars during pretreatment will be used to provide power to both the grain ethanol and cellulose ethanol operations, greatly reducing the need for petroleum feedstocks to either facility.
DuPont has a three-part biofuels strategy that includes: 1. improve the yield of grain ethanol production through the research and technology expertise of subsidiary Pioneer; 2. develop technologies to convert other agricultural feedstocks and energy crops into biofuels; and 3. discover new technologies to make advanced biofuels with enhanced fuel properties.
DuPont is a world leader in the development and manufacturing of high- performance materials that provide environmentally sustainable solutions utilizing renewable, farm-grown feedstocks rather than petroleum. The power of DuPont's scientific capabilities is being harnessed to meet the needs of both customers and society.
DuPont -- one of the first companies to publicly establish environmental goals 16 years ago -- has broadened its sustainability commitments beyond internal footprint reduction to include market-driven targets for both revenue and research and development investment like biofuels. The goals are tied directly to business growth, specifically to the development of safer and environmentally improved new products for key global markets, including products based on non-depletable resources, like biofuels.
DuPont is a science-based products and services company. Founded in 1802, DuPont puts science to work by creating sustainable solutions essential to a better, safer, healthier life for people everywhere. Operating in more than 70 countries and regions, DuPont offers a wide range of innovative products and services for markets including agriculture and food; building and construction; communications; and transportation.
For more information:
http://dupont.com/
http://www.bpdupontbiofuels.com/
http://pioneer.mediaroom.com/file.php/271/ProdChallenge.pdf
Source: DuPont
CONTACT:
Michelle Reardon,
DuPont,
+1-302-774-7447,
mobile +1-302-530-9197,
michelle.s.reardon@usa.dupont.com
Web site:
http://www.dupont.com/
http://www.bpdupontbiofuels.com/
http://pioneer.mediaroom.com/file.php/271/ProdChallenge.pdf
