DuPont biofuels strategy cascades to Asia

DuPonts Biofuel General Manager for Asia-Pacific, Miao Guo-hua, said the companys three-fold biofuels strategy is now cascading to Asia. This strategy includes: to discover new technologies to make advanced biofuels like biobutanol; to develop technologies to convert agricultural feed stock and energy crops into biofuels; and, to improve the yield of grain-ethanol production by increasing the yield per acre of energy crops. DuPont has partnered with BP to develop biobutanol, which is sourced from agricultural feed stocks such as corn, wheat, sugar cane, etc. Their objective is to deliver a product with exceptional performance at fuel blends greater than the current 10% ethanol blend limit. The partners first introduced biobutanol in the U.K. in 2007. In early 2008, DuPont Biofuels Venture Manager David Anton and BP Biofuels Business Technology Manager Ian Dobson said that they are developing biocatalysts to improve the conversion ratio in processing feed stocks into biobutanol, boosting fuel yield and concentration. DuPont, based in Wilmington, Del., U.S.A., said it hopes to have the “generation 2” biocatalyst ready by 2010. (July 11, 2008)