Des Moines Register
06-21-06
DuPont to develop new type of biofuel
Biobutanol has certain advantages over ethanol, including the ability to be mixed
at the oil refinery.
BY PHILIP BRASHER AND ANNE FITZGERALD
REGISTER FARM STAFF WRITERS
Washington, D.C. — Motorists could have another fuel choice — biobutanol, a
type of alcohol that, like ethanol, can be made from corn and other crops.
DuPont, the parent company of Des Moines' Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc.,
and the British energy giant BP announced Tuesday that they plan to start
producing butanol from sugar beets at a small plant in England.
The companies, which did not disclose financial terms of their 50-50 partnership,
are working with British Sugar to convert an English ethanol plant to the first plant
to make biobutanol. They expect to begin selling the alternative fuel in that
market in 2007.
Eventually, butanol could be made from U.S. corn, just as conventional ethanol is
now, DuPont officials said.
Butanol now costs more to make than ethanol, but cars would get better mileage
on butanol, and distribution would be easier, industry experts say. Butanol, unlike
ethanol, can be blended with gasoline at the refinery and shipped through
pipelines.
The initial project in England will be small, producing about 9 million gallons a
year, because of the higher production costs.
But company officials said they need to create a market for the fuel and ensure
that governments make it eligible for subsidies.
"One of the concerns is that the biofuels legislation was starting to narrow in on
ethanol," said DuPont spokeswoman Michelle Reardon.
The federal government subsidizes ethanol at 51 cents per gallon. Butanol could
qualify for a 50-cent-per-gallon tax credit that takes effect this fall for new
alternative fuels, said aides to Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Ia., chairman of the
Senate Finance Committee.
The companies plan to ramp up production of butanol by 2010 by bringing the
refining costs into line with that of ethanol.
Lawmakers have introduced a variety of proposals to further expand production
of biofuels, although the measures are targeted primarily at ethanol and
biodiesel, which is made mostly from soybeans.
The DuPont-BP project alters the biofuels industry by bringing in two companies
with experience in large-scale engineering and manufacturing, said Brent
Erickson, an official with the Biotechnology Industry Organization, of which both
companies are members.
"It means we can start making the volumes of fuels we need to displace
petroleum," Erickson said.
Dean Oestreich, president of Pioneer, called the announcement "really exciting
news for agriculture."
"We believe this will drive a higher use of biofuels," he said.
But some also cautioned that biobutanol would face challenges.
"That's not going to replace ethanol," said Mike Ott, executive director of BIOWA,
an Iowa City-based trade association that represents companies in the
burgeoning the bioeconomy.
"If you look at the volumes of ethanol we make, I don't think you're in the danger
zone there."
Butanol is one of several fuels that can be made from grains or plant material,
but it is more complicated to produce than ethanol because of additional
chemicals that result from the process, said Michael Pacheco, director of the
U.S. Energy Department's National Bioenergy Center.
"In the coming years, you're going to see more and more options (for biofuels)
being explored," he said.
All of the major oil companies are researching alternative fuels, said Edward
Murphy, an expert on motor fuels with the American Petroleum Institute in
Washington.
"Frankly, some of them are going to be successful. I can't say whether it's this
one," he said.
DuPont has been working with the Energy Department to develop an economical
process for distilling alcohol and chemicals from plant cellulose, such as the
leaves stalks and husks left over after corn is harvested.
That process also could be used for producing either ethanol or butanol, DuPont
officials said. They said they hoped have a cellulose refinery online by 2010, the
same year they intend to have the improved production process ready for
biobutanol.
Conventional butanol is made from petroleum and is used in the chemical
industry.
DuPont would not disclose how much it costs it to make butanol from crops. But
they said they hope to bring the cost down to about $30 to $40 a barrel, similar to
the cost of distilling corn-based ethanol, by improving the microbes used in
butanol production.
The new microbes will need to produce butanol at higher levels than the
organisms now used, said John Ranieri, a DuPont vice president.
Robert Brown, an Iowa State University professor of mechanical
engineering and director of ISU's Office of Biorenewables Programs, said
biobutanol must "look good on paper," but he predicted that there would be
barriers for DuPont and BP.
"A lot of people complain about the energy it takes to make ethanol," Brown said.
"I think it's going to be even worse with butanol."