Du Pont's plans to bring its two advanced biofuels programs to market are on track and making significant technical progress toward the commercialization of biobutanol and the economical conversion of cellulosic feedstocks into biofuels, said John Ranieri yesterday (2nd October). Speaking at an investor conference in New York, Ranieri, the company's Vice President & General Manager, said: "We are on track to have a biobutanol pilot facility operational next year with the commercial biotechnology package complete by 2010 at economics comparable to grain ethanol.  Once we are commercial with biobutanol we intend to combine our technologies to make biobutanol from non-food feedstocks."

He explained that the company's biofuels business strategy includes developing and commercializing an upstream biofuel technology to produce cellulosic ethanol that will use non-food energy feedstocks such as corn cob and switchgrass, and a downstream biofuel technology to produce biobutanol, a high-performance biofuel that can be delivered through existing gasoline distribution channels.

"Biobutanol and cellulosic ethanol have the ability to transform the biofuels industry", Ranieri added.  "Our flexible business models allow us to penetrate different geographies with the ability to convert various feedstocks to meet the significant global demand for biofuels."