All three DuPont biofuels collaborations received top honors in the 2010 “Transformative Technologies 30” survey, conducted by the magazine Biofuels Digest.
The DuPont Danisco Cellulosic Ethanol (DDCE) joint venture and the DuPont partnership with Bio Architecture Lab (BAL) to develop macroalgae to butanol capabilities placed first, while the Butamax Advanced Biofuels joint venture placed second in their respective categories. DuPont Applied BioSciences President Craig F. Binetti: “Each venture incorporates game-changing science and tailored business models that maximize our ability to deliver large volumes of biofuels to a global population that is increasingly more interested in alternatives to oil.”
The joint venture of DuPont and Danisco has made rapid progress since it was established in 2008. DDCE has started up a 250,000-gallon demonstration-scale biorefinery in Tennessee and brought the cost of production below $2 per gallon. DDCE expects to announce its first commercial plans this fall. “Cellulosic ethanol is ready for deployment,” DuPont Applied BioSciences President Craig Binetti said.
The Butamax Advanced Biofuels joint venture was voted a clear leader in the development of biobutanol technologies. “The strategic plan for Butamax is to give biorefineries the option to convert from ethanol to biobutanol in the future. The joint venture has started some preliminarily exploratory discussions with ethanol producers in the United States and Brazil.”
The U.S. Department of Energy Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) awarded funding to DuPont and its partner BAL last fall to develop a process to convert macroalgae to biobutanol. The DuPont-BAL partnership placed firstin the category: Transformative Technology: macro algae platforms. “Macroalgae to biobutanol could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 90 percent when compared to petroleum and diversify feedstock routes for advanced biofuels.”
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