December 4, 2012

Dupont breaks ground on its Iowa cellulosic ethanol plant

Press Release

Dupont has started constructing its US$200 million cellulosic ethanol facility in Nevada, Iowa which is expected to be completed in mid-2014.

The said facility will be among the first and largest commercial-scale cellulosic bio-refineries in the world which will have the capacity to generate 30 million gallons annually of cellulosic biofuel produced from corn stover residues, a non-food feedstock consisting of corn stalks and leaves.

DuPont will contract with more than 500 local farmers to gather, store and deliver more than 375,000 dry tonnes of stover per year to the plant. The stover will be collected from a 30-mile radius around the new plant and harvested off of 190,000 acres.

James C. Collins, president, DuPont Industrial Biosciences was joined by Iowa Governor Terry Branstad to celebrate the official beginning of construction on the facility at a ceremony held at the construction site adjacent to grain ethanol facility Lincolnway Energy.

The company was able to optimise the process and technology at its pilot facility in Tennessee, which allowed it to increase the annual capacity at the Iowa plant and will require a capital investment of about US$7 per gallon of annual capacity.

For many corn growers, residue management is a major challenge when maximising their potential grain yield.  Leftover corn stover interferes with planting, delays stand establishment, monopolises nitrogen in the soil and often harbours damaging insect, pests and pathogens.  Some stover from the corn crop is left on the field to protect the soil from erosion.

DuPont will further adapt its cellulosic ethanol technology to additional feedstocks.  It is already processing switch grass in the testing facility it owns jointly with the University of Tennessee near Knoxville, Tennessee.

The use of advanced biofuels can result in fewer greenhouse gas emissions.  An International Organisation for Standardization (ISO) compliant, peer reviewed life cycle assessment of the DuPont bio-refinery and supply chain indicates a potential greater than 100% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared to gasoline.  This significant greenhouse gas reduction is enabled by use of cellulosic co-products as a source of renewable energy.  The DuPont bio-refinery co-product is a material that can displace coal in facilities currently burning this fossil fuel.