Click this link to see the article with sidebars comparing ethanol with 
biobutanol and energy support from IED Board:

http://dmregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060621/BUSINESS01/606210353/1029/archive

Published June 21, 2006

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."

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