DuPont celebrates the opening of its cellulosic biofuel facility in Nevada, Iowa, reportedly the world’s largest cellulosic ethanol plant with the capacity to produce 30 million gallons per year of clean fuel. The majority of the fuel produced there will be bound for California to fulfill the state’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard, a policy to reduce carbon intensity in transportation fuels.
The raw material used to produce the ethanol is corn stover – the stalks, leaves and cobs left in a field after harvest. The facility will demonstrate at commercial scale that non-food feedstocks from agriculture can be the renewable raw material to power future energy demands, according to the company.
500 local farmers will provide the annual 375,000 dry tons of stover needed to produce this cellulosic ethanol from within a 30-mile radius of the facility. In addition to providing a revenue stream for the growers, the plant will create 85 full-time jobs at the plant and more than 150 seasonal local jobs in Iowa, according to the company.
In Asia, DuPont recently announced its first licensing agreement with New Tianlong Industry to build China’s largest cellulosic ethanol plant. Last fall, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was announced between DuPont, Ethanol Europe and the government of Macedonia to develop a second-generation biorefinery project. The company is also working in partnership with Procter & Gamble to use cellulosic ethanol in North American Tide laundry detergents.
For more information, visit: www.dupont.com
