Posted on 01/24/2007 6:14:44 PM PST by Gondring
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DuPont attracts White House eye: President to view biofuel research in Delaware DOVER - DuPont's focus on biofuels research has attracted new attention from its oldest customer. President Bush planned to visit DuPont's experimental station in Wilmington today to emphasize the call in his State of the Union address for increased use of ethanol as a fuel alternative. In prepared remarks, President Bush proposed reducing gasoline consumption in the U.S. by 20 percent over the next 10 years through tougher fuel economy standards and mandatory production of more ethanol and other alternate fuels. The White House said the new fuel mandate will spur investment in the industry and give technological research a boost, which fit nicely with DuPont's emphasis on biotechnology as a key to its strategic growth. DuPont is conducting biofuels research on several fronts, including genetically modifying corn seeds to increase ethanol production, producing ethanol from the entire corn plant instead of just the kernels, and working with British energy giant BP to develop and market bio-based butanol, a more efficient alternative to ethanol. "We're just very honored that he's recognizing our scientists and what they've accomplished," DuPont chairman and chief executive Charles Holliday Jr. said of President Bush's visit. The relationship between the federal government and DuPont dates to 1802, when the company began producing black powder along the banks of the Brandwine River. By 1820, DuPont was the leading powder supplier for the government. "The federal government was our first customer when we started up over 200 years ago, so were glad to have the nice customer visit," Mr. Holliday said. John Ranieri, vice president and general manager for DuPont biofuels, said the company's Pioneer corn hybrids have a higher starch content that can produce more gallons of ethanol per acre than other corns seeds. The company already has more than 120 ethanol hybrids from Pioneer, including 22 introduced last year. "That's one major area we're looking at," Mr. Ranieri said. DuPont also is leading a consortium that received a four-year, $19 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy for research in producing cellulosic ethanol. Unlike traditional ethanol, which is made from corn kernels, cellulosic ethanol is made from the whole corn plant: cob, stalk and silk. Mr. Ranieri said success with cellulosic ethanol, which also can be produced from feedstocks such as wood chips, grasses and agricultural leftovers, could help resolve the current food-fuel debate involving corn. DuPont officials say the secret to cellulosic ethanol is making the technology that uses enzymes and microorganisms to break down cellulose in the tough, stringy parts of the corn plant and convert it into sugars for fermentation commercially feasible. "You have to covert it to a sugar first, that's the real science," Mr. Ranieri said. Three years into the four-year grant program, the company plans to begin a pilot cellulosic ethanol production program in South Dakota later this year, working with the Broin Cos. of Sioux Falls. Mr. Holliday said that when DuPont hits its milestones for cellulosic ethanol, it will be able to double ethanol output per acre of corn. A third area of research for DuPont is biobutanol, made from agricultural products rather than petroleum. Like ethanol, butanol is an alcohol compound, but its different chemical structure gives it several advantages over ethanol, including low vapor pressure and tolerance to water contamination in gasoline blends, which facilitates its use in existing gasoline supply channels. DuPont will be introducing biobutanol into the United Kingdom this year as it continues to work on a genetically modified microbe to boost fuel yield from feedstocks. The goal is to perfect the fermentation process, which results in butanol, acetone and ethanol, to optimize production of biobutanol. DuPont has said it hopes to have a "generation 2" biocatalyst ready by 2010. DuPont's biobutanol research is based on the knowledge gained from its development of Bio-PDO, a corn-based ingredient used to manufacture polymers for use in textiles such as clothing and carpets. DuPont has built a 100 million-pound production facility in Loudon, Tenn., that will produce Bio-PDO for facilities in Kinston, N.C., and China that will turn it into the company's Sorona polymer. "What we've done with PDO, we're going to be doing with butanol as well," Mr. Ranieri said. "... It's an exciting time."
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Hot dog!
Federal money....I went to a GOP meeting today and they said Bush was in Delaware.
When I clicked on the link, I figured Pete DuPont was going to make a second run for the White House. Of course the first one was 20 years ago.
We don't have an "addiction to oil". We exchange money for oil in order to get benefits from using the oil that we think are worth the money. If the price of oil went up, we would use less. As the price of oil increases, other sources of energy become worth exploiting.
If we're so worried about cutting the dependence on foreign oil, the government could just ban the importation of oil from Middle Eastern countries. The price of oil spikes dramatically up in the US, we stop using so much of it, problem solved. If this is a problem to be solved by Government, why take half measures?
I don't want the government to ban the importation of oil, but I similarly don't want the government involved in "curing" our "addiction to oil", whatever that means. In case I was being completely unclear.
I gotcha.
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