DuPont, Genecor launch $140 million cellulosic ethanol venture based on new enzymes

DuPont and biotech firm Genencor announced a $140 million joint venture to produce cellulosic ethanol. Each company will contribute $70 million to form DuPont Danisco Cellulosic Ethanol, and the new company will use new enzymes by Genencor to dramatically reduce the cost of cellulosic ethanol production. The new company said that it would launch a pilot production plant next year and expected to have a  commercial-scale demonstration plant open by 2012.  The company said that it had set a target of reducing the cost of biofuel production by 35 to 40 percent, and with corn ethanol at a break even point of $2 per gallon, the firm is clearly targeting cost structures similar to the $1 per gallon target announced earlier this year by Coskata. “Clearly there is an urgent need for renewable energy alternatives and management of the rising food prices,” DuPont Chief Executive Charles O. Holliday Jr. said in remarks to reporters. “DuPont is committed to bringing part of that solution.”

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