DuPont and BP have formed a partnership to develop, produce and market a next generation of biofuels. The first product is targeted for introduction in the UK in 2007 as a gasoline bio-component.
DuPont and BP have been working together since 2003 to develop advanced biofuels with properties that can help overcome the limitations of existing biofuels. That work has now progressed to the point where they are able to bring the first product, biobutanol, to market.
DuPont and BP are working with British Sugar, a subsidiary of Associated British Foods plc, to convert the country’s first ethanol fermentation facility to produce biobutanol. Additional global capacity will be introduced as market conditions dictate. A feasibility study in conjunction with British Sugar is already under way to examine the possibility of constructing larger facilities in the UK.
“DuPont firmly believes that biology will help us reduce our global reliance on fossil fuels,” said DuPont Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Charles O. Holliday, Jr. “Today we are demonstrating how DuPont’s unique scientific capability provides solutions that are sustainable, renewable and matched to real world needs. Biobutanol is just the beginning of new solutions DuPont can offer to transform global economies by improving our use of renewable ingredients and natural processes to deliver products for a better, safer, healthier world.”
“BP has a history of seeking, and delivering, ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions both from our own operations and from the products we sell,” said Lord Browne, chief executive officer of BP. “Transportation is an important area to address since it accounts for around 20 percent of global emissions and in the short to medium term increased blending of bio-components represents one of the few real options for progress in this area on a global scale.”
Both companies recognize that while existing bio-components have proven to be an excellent starting point for the introduction of biofuels and will continue to play a major role in the future, there are issues that need to be addressed to increase market penetration. In particular, compatibility with existing fuel supply and distribution systems, the ability to blend in higher concentrations without requiring vehicle modifications, and fuel economy were identified as areas where improvements are needed.
This next generation of biofuels will help deliver on these targets. Biobutanol has low vapor pressure and tolerance to water contamination in gasoline blends, facilitating its use in existing gasoline supply and distribution channels. It has the potential to be blended into gasoline at higher concentrations than existing biofuels without the need to retrofit vehicles and it offers better fuel economy than gasoline-ethanol blends, improving a car’s fuel efficiency and mileage.
Biobutanol also enhances the performance of ethanol blends in gasoline by, among other things, reducing ethanol’s impact on vapor pressure, one of the issues that limits wider use of ethanol in existing gasoline distribution channels.
Initial production of biobutanol will be based on an existing technology, enabling early commercial market introduction. In a second phase, development work on a new biotechnology process using a higher conversion technology is already under way. Production is intended to utilize a range of feedstocks such as sugar cane or sugar beet, corn, wheat, or cassava and, in the future, cellulosic feedstocks from fast growing “energy crops” such as grasses, or “agricultural byproducts” such as straw and corn stalks. Since production of biobutanol is similar to ethanol and uses similar feedstocks, existing ethanol capacity can be retrofitted to produce biobutanol.
Biobutanol will provide significant environmental benefits over petroleum- derived transportation fuels, reducing overall environmental emissions of greenhouse gases. Biofuels help maintain, and potentially even reduce, the overall volume of carbon dioxide emissions entering the atmosphere. This is because the plants used to produce biofuels absorb carbon dioxide as they grow, while the resulting biofuels emit roughly the same amount of carbon dioxide as conventional fossil fuels when they are burned. While greenhouse gases also are generated in the production of biofuels, the net effect is still lower than using conventional fossil fuels.
Loading...